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What is tuberculosis?
Tuberculosis (TB) is an infectious disease caused by a bacterium, Mycobacterium tuberculosis. 
 
How is tuberculosis caused ?
TB is spread through the air by a person suffering from TB. A single patient can infect 10 or more people in a year.
 
What are the symptoms of tuberculosis?
Common symptoms of tuberculosis are:
  • Cough for three weeks or more, sometimes with blood-streaked sputum
  • Fever, especially at night
  • Weight loss
  • Loss of appetite
 

Tuberculosis Benefits of DOTS/ Why DOTS

  1. DOTS more than doubles the accuracy of TB diagnosis.
     
  2. Its success rate is up to 95%.
     
  3. It prevents the spread of tuberculosis by prioritizing sputum positive patients for diagnosis and treatment, thus reducing the incidence and prevalence of TB.
     
  4. It helps in alleviating poverty by saving lives, reducing the duration of illness and preventing new infectious cases.
     
  5. It improves the quality of care and removes stigma.
     
  6. It prevents treatment failure and the emergence of MDR-TB by ensuring patient adherence to treatment and uninterrupted supply of anti –TB drugs.
     
  7. It lends credence to TB control efforts.
What is DOTS?
DOTS is the only strategy which has proven effective in controlling TB on a mass basis. The DOTS strategy is in practice 148 countries. India has adapted and tested DOTS since 1993, with excellent results.
 
What is the RNTCP?
In 1993, a Revised National Tuberculosis Control Programme (RNTCP) was begun, applying the principles of DOTS to the Indian context.
 
How many people die from TB in India every year?
Tuberculosis kills more people in India and throughout the South-East Asia Region than any other infectious disease - more than HIV, STD, malaria, and tropical diseases combined. In India, more than 1,000 people die from TB every day - more than 450,000 per year, 1 every minute.
 
Which is the strongest risk factor for tuberculosis among adults and how does it affects the spread of TB ?
The Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV, the virus that causes AIDS) is the strongest risk factor for tuberculosis among adults. The HIV epidemic will increase tuberculosis cases in India. If HIV spreads more rapidly, tuberculosis may become uncontrollable for at least a generation. Unless tuberculosis control services are rapidly strengthened, HIV could fuel a doubling or even tripling of tuberculosis cases.
 
Can tuberculosis be cured ?
Tuberculosis can be cured, even among HIV-infected persons. Treatment with DOTS has been shown to prolong the life of HIV-infected persons by at least two years. HIV-infected TB patients who received treatment with the same drugs but not in a programme of DOTS had a three-fold increased risk of death during treatment.
 
For how long must tuberculosis treatment be taken ?
Tuberculosis treatment requires at least 6 months of treatment.
 
What is Multidrug-resistant tuberculosis ?
Multidrug-resistant tuberculosis (MDR TB) is caused by strains of the tuberculosis bacteria resistant to the two most effective anti-tuberculosis drugs available - isoniazid and rifampicin. MDR TB can only be diagnosed in a specialized laboratory. 
 
What is the duration of treatment of Multidrug-resistant tuberculosis ?
Multidrug-resistant Tuberculosis requires at least 18-24 months of treatment with medicines which are 100 times more expensive and often highly toxic, and this treatment often fails.
 

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