 Tuberculosis is highly contagious.  Children wait their turn.  The doctor scrupulously updates all patient records.  File and medicines of a patient suffering from tuberculosis.  Entire villages are screened regularly.  Tuberculosis can be cured.  Calcutta Rescue ambulance. | DOTS Programme
– the world fight against tuberculosis
After leprosy tuberculosis is one of the biggest diseases in India but unlike leprosy it proves fatal for more than half of those afflicted in developing countries.
In an attempt to fight tuberculosis and to prevent it from spreading the WHO has implemented the DOT Programmes in countries most affected. Calcutta Rescue is very involved in these programmes in India.
The DOTS Programme is based on the following 5 elements:
1) Political and financial support at national level
2) Screening system by competent laboratories
3) Standardized treatments with medical undertaking and aftercare
4) Efficient distribution of medicines
5) System of epidemic control
(to know more about it, please visite the WHO website)
Calcutta Rescue organises visits and controls over the entire sphere of activity whether in town or in the neighbouring rural zones. Sufferers detected during these field trips or during visits to schools etc are sent directly to local hospitals for final diagnosis and to set up adequate treatment.
Only Calcutta Rescue is able to provide a free treatment for patients with a multidrug-resistant strain – MDR-TB (i.e. strain of bacteria resistant to at least 2 of the Phase 1 anti-tuberculosis medicines) or an ultra-resistant strain (i.e. resisting at least 3 of the 6 classes of the Phase 2 medicines). The DOTS programmes run by the government do not take on these patients.
A patient with ordinary tuberculosis and HIV has a life expectancy of 6 months if he has no access to treatment. Migrant or homeless people are denied treatment as they are required to give a fixed address to be admitted into a government programme or at the Institute of Tropical Medicine in Calcutta. Calcutta Rescue takes on these patients rejected by other programmes recognizing a huge pool of infection. The TIP and Street Medicine Programme play an important role in this struggle.
Tuberculosis
It is an infectious disease caused by a pathogen akin to leprosy known as “mycobacterium tuberculosis” which attacks more commonly the lungs or in certain cases organs such as the kidneys, the lymphatic ganglions, the bones and joints. The risk of contagion is high through coughing, sneezing or simply talking. The bacteria can lie dormant. The patient seems healthy but is spreading his germs around him.
The common symptoms of the disease are a persistant cough, blood-tinged sputum, chest pain, weight loss and loss of appetite and fever.
Tuberculosis exists all over the world but developing countries are more at risk due its poverty and low quality of life. Current figures published in 2007 by the WHO show an estimated 2 billion people i.e. 1/3 of the world’s population are carriers of the bacillus.
In 2005 tuberculosis was the cause of death for 1.6 million people, in other words 4,400 per day. Treatment usually lasts 6 to 8 months. If the medicines are taken long enough patients can expect to recover fully but interrupted treatment can cause relapse with often fatal consequences. The other risk of incomplete treatment is the development of germs immunized against the usual medication.
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