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.