Hyderabad: In order to identify hidden illnesses in patients who are constantly complaining of disorders and pains, general practitioners often prescribe “TB Gold Test, TB Platinum Test and Mantoux test” which are against the World Health Organisation guidelines, said pulmonologist in the city.
These tests identify latent TB and treating this as tuberculosis is merely increasing the burden of the disease, claimed pulmonologists on World TB Day, observed on March 24.
Prof K. Subhakar of the Chest Hospital says, “These tests are only to detect latent tuberculosis. Given the incidence of tuberculosis, 50 per cent of Indians are suffering from latent tuberculosis. We presently have to fight active TB and also multi-drug resistant tuberculosis (MDRT). These tests are further compounding the fight as patients are developing resistance to the drugs.”
Dr B. Chaitanya, pulmonologist with Mediciti Hospital, explained, “Mantoux test is required in non-pulmonary cases of TB. But presently, it is being over utilised.”
There are 926 designated centers for these tests in the city but there is no control over them. Dr Vijay Kumar, pulmonologist, ex-plained, “To ensure proper diagnosis there are new tests like LED microscopy which give exact status and can also indicate whether the patient has resistance to drugs.”
TB hits all, knows no income groups
A shift in the strata of TB disease has shown that even higher income groups are affected owing to their working conditions, lack of exposure to fresh air and also irregular shift systems, thus compromising their immune system.
Pulmonologist Dr Srinivas Rao said, “Working people often skip breakfast. Their eating patterns are erratic. These changing patterns of eating and succumbing to lifestyle changes, like smoking and drinking, tend to affect their systems badly. Unusual work hours disturb the biological clock leading to irregularities in the body. In these cases, the immune system gets weak, making them susceptible to the disease.”
For this reason, IT companies are laying stress on counselling employees to motivate towards regular exercise, choice of right foods, proper sleep.
A senior official in the state tuberculosis wing explained, “It is no longer a poor man’s disease, but dealing with the exact numbers has still been a challenge. because they do not come to government hospitals for treatment. An online facility is being designed and once that starts working we will have the exact pattern of the disease. Tackling it will then be easy as we will get a clear picture.”
