TUBERCULOSIS - SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

News: India can lead efforts to find new TB vaccine, says WHO’s former chief scientist Soumya Swaminathan

 

What's in the news?

       Raising the need to develop a new vaccine for tuberculosis, Soumya Swaminathan, former chief scientist at the World Health Organization (WHO), said India, considering its accelerated timeline for TB elimination than the rest of the world, should be in the lead, and scientists and researchers around the country as well as globally should come together to develop a better vaccine.

 

Tuberculosis:

Backdrop:

       Worldwide, tuberculosis (TB) has surpassed HIV-AIDS as the leading cause of death due to infectious diseases.

       India had a little less than 20 percent of the world’s population, but had more than 25 percent of the total TB patients of the world.

       In India, the TB capital of the world, the disease kills 1,400 persons every day.

 

Infection:

       Tuberculosis (TB) is an infectious disease caused by Mycobacterium tuberculosis.

       TB commonly affects the lungs (pulmonary TB) but can also affect other parts (extrapulmonary TB).

       Pulmonary tuberculosis is a chronic consumptive disease, but it can be present as acute pneumonia.

       Pneumonia is an inflammatory condition of the lung affecting primarily the microscopic air sacs known as alveoli.

       Tuberculosis spreads from person to person through the air, when people who are infected with TB infection cough, sneeze or otherwise transmit respiratory fluids through the air.

       Most infections do not have symptoms, known as latent tuberculosis.

       About 10% of latent infections eventually progresses to active disease which, if left untreated, kills about half of those infected.

       HIV infection, diabetes, undernutrition, lung damage due to pollution, tobacco smoking, fall in immune functions due to chronic diseases, alcoholism, etc. were the main trigger causes behind it.

 

Revised National TB Control Program (National TB elimination program):

RNTCP incorporates the principles of Directly Observed Treatment-Short course (DOTS). DOTS is a systematic strategy which has five components:

 

1. Political and administrative commitment: Since TB can be cured and the epidemic reversed, it warrants the topmost priority, which has been accorded by the Government of India.

2. Good quality diagnosis: Good quality microscopy allows health workers to see the tubercle bacilli and diagnose properly.

3. Good quality drugs: An uninterrupted supply of good quality anti-TB drugs must be available. RNTCP provides a box of medication for the entire treatment for every person registered.

4. Supervised treatment to ensure the right treatment: The RNTCP uses the best anti-TB medications available in a right way.

5. Systematic monitoring and accountability: Standard recording and reporting system, and the technique of cohort analyses are used to keep an account of every person treated.

       According to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, all nations have set the goal of eradicating TB by the year 2030.

       End TB strategy: India is committed to eliminating tuberculosis from the country by 2025, five years ahead of the global target by the World Health Organization (WHO) i.e. 2030.

       Elimination as defined by the World Health Organization (WHO), means that there should be less than 1 person with TB for a population of a million people.