Elderly, diabetes patients become vulnerable to tuberculosis

BANGKOK, May 30 (TNA) - The Thai Ministry of Public Health says that the elderly and diabetes patients have now become vulnerable to tuberculosis. Permanent Secretary for Public Health Dr. Narong Sahametapat acknowledged on Wednesday that tuberculosis has killed over 1.7 million people worldwide annually and the Geneva-based World Health Organization (WHO) has considered Thailand one of 22 countries with severe tuberculosis problems. Dr. Narong told reporters that there are about 110,000 tuberculosis patients in Thailand, about 86,000 are new victims of the disease, which kills about 9,800 people each year; while the WHO reports that there are about 2,000 patients with severe and multi-drug resistance in Thailand and they can transmit the disease to others. According to the senior health official, Thailand's tuberculosis control has been effective among HIV-infected, alcoholic and asthma patients, as well as slum dwellers, but the elderly and diabetes patients are now more likely to fall victims to tuberculosis due to their weak immunity. To solve the problem, the senior health official revealed that his ministry and the Anti-Tuberculosis Association of Thailand have jointly deployed health officials and volunteers to reach patients early and have them take complete courses of medications in order to reduce the problem of drug resistance and cut the death rate to lower than 5 per cent, and that he has also ordered clinics and hospitals to early identify patients, covering immigrants, and to provide them with free treatment until they are completely cured. Dr. Chawetsan Namwat, Director of the Bureau of Tuberculosis, pointed out, meanwhile, that outstanding symptoms of tuberculosis patients include continued coughing for more than two weeks, slightly-high temperatures in the afternoon and lost appetite and weight, noting, however, that modern medications are now easy to have, as one pill contains many effective medicines. Dr. Chawetsan stressed that it is important for every patient to complete the course of drugs, which takes about 6-8 months, because the incompletion is a major cause of drug resistance, warning that cured patients may contact tuberculosis again because the disease is airborne and patients who can transmit the disease are in the stage when the disease is found in their phlegm. (TNA)