Nearly 1000 people die of TB in India everyday

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Nearly 1000 people die of TB in India everyday

Ginny Narula / CNN-IBN

New Delhi: Nearly a 1000 people die of Tuberculosis in India every

day which is more than the number of deaths caused by Malaria, HIV

and Hepatitis combined.

Sushil Kumar has been suffering from tuberculosis and has come all

the way from Jharkhand to Delhi to get himself treated.

" I had a bad cough, doctors asked me to go in for a sputum test and I

was diagnosed with tuberculosis, " says Kumar.

While incidence of TB has dropped in countries like the US, the

increase in drug resistant strains is a huge cause of worry for

doctors, especially in countries in Asia and Africa, where 83 per

cent of the world's cases of tuberculosis are reported.

Another trend that has doctors worried is that TB is no longer a poor

man's disease. Affluent urban India is adding to the number of deaths

caused by Tuberculosis.

Even though there has been a decline in numbers. India continues to

have the highest number of TB cases followed by China, Indonesia,

South Africa and Nigeria.

According to WHO report 2007, in India the death rates due to TB have

declined from 42 per 100,000 population in 1990 to 29 per 100,000

population in 2005.

However, the rate of detection of new cases has fallen to 3 per cent

from an average of 6 per cent in the preceding five years. This is

despite India boasting of the biggest TB detection programme in the

world.

Initially these DOT centers were very active however, with time they

are not that pro-active due to which there is a decline in rate of

detection.

These statistics are worrisome as the higher the cases of early

detection, the lower the chance of transmission of the disease and

gives a better chance to cure.

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