Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 1996. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 1996. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
Reuters NewMedia, Inc. - 10 July 1996
Joanne Kenen / Reuters
Tuberculosis can be cured, usually at a cost of only about $11 a person, if countries follow the recommended public health procedures, officials of the World Health Organisation and the UNAIDS programme told a news briefing at the 11th International Conference on AIDS.
"Tuberculosis treatment is straightforward and affordable -- and it works," said Dr. Arata Kochi, director of the WHO global TB programme.
TB is the leading killer of HIV-infected people around the world, but treating them could prolong their lives by about two years, enhance the quality of their lives, and help get the dreaded lung disease under control, he said.
"There's a lethal symbiosis," for both individuals and communities, said Dr. Peter Piot, head of UNAIDS.
TB worsens the plight of AIDS patients, and the AIDS epidemic in turn expands the TB epidemic simply because HIV- infected people are so vulnerable to TB and can then transmit it to others, regardless of their HIV status.
Unlike AIDS, which is passed through sharing needles or unprotected sex, TB is airborne and does not require any intimate contact.
Kochi said countries having the most success in fighting the renewed spread of TB are those following the DOTS strategy, which stands for Direct Observed Treatment, Short Course.
Under DOTS, a trained clinic or health outreach worker watches the patient take his or her drugs. For the first two months, the patient takes a combination of four drugs, and for the next four to six months, two drugs are prescribed.
Kochi said some countries, like Bangladesh, have had success in expanding DOTS to encompass home and community-based care. Schoolteachers, or educated family members have been trained to be the DOTS observers.
If TB patients skip doses, or stop taking their medicine before the full course of treatment, they contribute to the dangerously growing problem of strains of TB that resist the drugs commonly used to treat it.
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