Becomes a major public health concern

From 33 Multi-Drug Resistant Tuberculosis (MDR-TB) cases detected in Karnataka in 2011, the number went up to 1,071 cases in 2016, indicating increasing resistance to tuberculosis (TB) drugs among patients.

MDR-TB has now become a major public health concern in the State, which the health authorities are struggling to deal with. This has brought into focus a greater need for research in MDR-TB.

Although officials in the State Health Department admitted that the number of MDR-TB cases are on the rise here, they put it down to the high detection rate after the State procured 34 gene Xpert machines to augment the diagnosis of tuberculosis at the district level. The incidence in Karnataka is considerably low compared to other States, officials added.

Every year, March 24 is observed as World TB Day and the theme this year is ‘Unite to End TB’.

According to a senior official in the State TB Cell, 892 MDR-TB cases were detected in 2015 and 850 in 2014. However, tuberculosis experts and doctors said these numbers are only the official statistics and many more cases could have gone without detection.

Shashidhar Buggi, Director of the State-run Rajiv Gandhi Institute of Chest Diseases, attributed the rise in MDR cases to lack of awareness among patients and non-compliance of the treatment regimen.

The best first-line anti-TB drugs (Rifampicin and Isoniazid) are not effective against MDR-TB cases. Nearly 3% of the newly diagnosed sputum positive cases in the country are found to develop MDR-TB. One patient can directly spread the disease to at least 10 others if it is not checked at the initial stage, he said.

However, he has a word of advice for general practitioners and health workers.

“If a patient does not respond to treatment and symptoms do not subside, doctors need to see whether there is a need to review diagnosis. Tuberculosis usually affects the lungs, but can involve any part of the body, and there is a need to examine if the patient has developed complications. Every case that does not respond to treatment cannot be considered as a MDR-TB case,” he said, adding that laboratory investigations have to always be correlated with symptoms.