Bohol TB program nails high 

92% treatment success rate

TAGBILARAN CITY, August 4, 2017 (PIA) -Implementers of the National Tuberculosis Program (NTP) in Bohol nails a high 92% case treatment and cure success rate, an strong indication that as long as a case is detected by the professionals, free treatment and eventual cure can immediately start.   

Bohol NTP Coordinator and nurse Polizena Rances, even assured treating tuberculosis (TB) can be easy as long as patients can be enrolled in the program and professionals can get to those afflicted. 

Beyond that, the effort largely rests on the patient and his family, sums up the tuberculosis (TB) coordinator who also occupies a key seat in the Provincial Council Against TB (PROCAT). 

TB is an infectious disease caused by the bacteria called Mycobacterium tuberculosis, and is transmitted airborne from a TB patient to another person through coughing, sneezing and spitting. 

This makes the patient's close contacts especially household members, susceptible with TB infection.

But, a patient who has started to take his fixed dose of anti-TB medicines would cease to infect others, TB program implementers said. 

TB is curable and preventable but problems like social stigma, indifference of patients and the surfacing of drug resistant TB, has highlighted the roles of communities and governments in the program. 

Reporting at the radio forum Kapihan sa PIA, Rances detailed the NTP milestones especially in the implementation of the Directly Observed Treatment Short Course for Tuberculosis (TB-DOTS) in Bohol, in time for the Lung Month celebration. 

A tuberculosis control strategy recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO), TB DOTS, according to WHO is the most cost-effective way to stop the spread of TB in communities. 

But, while the provincial NTP program pushes for TB DOTS as it aims to put up a 90% TB case detection this year, the implementers only nailed a low 62%, she said.

The figure rises in counter-point to a 92% TB cure and treatment success rate, she pointed out. 

As a measure to plug the failure in hitting the 90% case detection rate, Rances said they intend to use the purok system in seeding out those suspected of having the disease. 

It's simple, any person who has had persistent coughs for 2-3 weeks, experiences chest and back pains, unintentional weight loss, fatigue, fever, night sweats and chills, should be reported and referred to the nearest public health facility. 

There is even nothing to fear: cases are always treated with confidentiality, and a fixed dose implemented now is way much easier than the single drug administration then, she said. 

Rances however cautions those who have started the six month regimen not to cut it and discontinue the treatment as this could lead to multi drug resistant (MDR) TB, which makes the case even harder to manage. 

On keeping people safe from the disease, the Provincial Health Office nurse quickly added: keep your body resistance high always. 

For that, she means good diet, good rest and keeping healthy habits. 

Of all people exposed to the disease, 95% develop an antibody response that fights the bacteria or self cure themselves, she explained. (rahc/PIA-7/Bohol)

NTP Bohol coordinator Polizena Rances urges Boholanos to help them detect potential cases of tuberculosis and then report them to health facilities to help get rid of the disease. She also calls the purok leaders to help them seek out these people and facilitate their enrolment into the TB-DOTS, during the recent Kapihan sa PIA. (rahc/PIA-7/Bohol)