Alongside the effects of Covid-19 and its various variants, of late, the cases of TB in India have seen an upward rise too. In accordance with a study that has been conducted recently, India has the highest number of TB cases in the world. Each year about four lakh eighty thousand patients are dying due to this disease and about fifteen hundred patients are dying each day in India. According to a report published by WHO, in 2021, more than half a million people died due to this disease.
It transmits through the air. When a patient who has a TB infection sneezes, coughs, or spits out in the open, the germs get released into the air. Any normal person who breathes in a few germs gets infected. According to Dr. V Rao, in India, awareness of TB has become very important to prioritize.
Symptoms
The symptoms are depended on which part the germ is building in the body. When TB occurs in the lungs, the cough persists for more than three weeks. It also brings frequent fevers, loss of appetite, and chest pain and makes the body weak and fragile. When TB occurs in other parts of the body, it shows other symptoms. When B happens in the kidney, blood comes out during urination. When it occurs in the spine, there is immense back pain.
When TB occurs in the brain, the patient undergoes frequent seizures, vomiting, headache, drowsiness, stroke, and paralysis. Chronic pain in the joint must not be taken easily too because it is also a symptom of joint TB in some cases. TB on the lymph nodes makes them swell and develop pain. In abdominal TB there is pain in the abdomen and it also accumulates fluid too. Various skin lesions are symptoms of TB in the skin and blurry vision occurs due to TB in the eyes as well.
How To Identify TB From Cough
Generally, the cough that occurs from TB produces yellow or green phlegm due to the presence of bacteria in it. Sometimes, there are spots of blood in it too. In TB patients suddenly heavy congestion and cough develop. It leads to the transmission of the disease. You must also observe the other symptoms along with the cough to understand if it is TB.
The Primary Target Group Of TB
According to Dr. V Rao, the use of tobacco is leading to more cases of TB in India. India also happens to be the second biggest consumer of tobacco in the world. To eradicate TB in this country there is a need to highlight the issues that tobacco leads to, including TB. There is a need to bring out more programs by the government on TB and tobacco. The youth are more vulnerable to it. Strategic intervention needs to be applied too so that the rate of TB cases can get diminished.
People belonging to the high-income group consume more tobacco in different forms and take in food that is high in sugar. The youth is the major target in this group. Smoking increases the risk and death due to TB. The cause of TB is linked to multiple defects in the immune cells and altered response of immunity.
