What is TB?

• Tuberculosis (TB) is a disease caused by bacteria called Mycobacterium tuberculosis. 

• TB most commonly affects the lungs (pulmonary TB), but it can also affect other organs (extra-pulmonary TB).
• TB spreads through the air when a person with TB of the lungs or throat coughs, sneezes, or talks.
• Common symptoms of TB are:
  • Cough for three weeks or more, sometimes with blood-streaked sputum; Fever, especially at night; Weight loss and Loss of appetite.

Who is at risk?

• Over 95% of cases and deaths are in developing countries.

• People infected with TB bacteria have a 5–10% lifetime risk of falling ill with TB. Those with compromised immune systems, such as people living with HIV, malnutrition or diabetes, or people who use tobacco, have a higher risk of falling ill.
• However, TB is curable and preventable.

Treatment for TB

• Currently, BCG (Bacillus Calmette-Guerin) is the only licensed vaccine available for the prevention of TB.
• BCG works well in certain places but not so well in others. Generally, the farther a country is from the equator, the higher is the efficacy.
• However, BCG gives excellent protection against severe forms of tuberculosis in children.

What is Multidrug-resistant TB?

• Anti-TB medicines have been used for decades and strains that are resistant to one or more of the medicines have been documented in every country surveyed. 
• Drug resistance emerges when anti-TB medicines are used inappropriately, through incorrect prescription by health care providers, poor quality drugs, and patients stopping treatment prematurely.
• Multidrug-resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB) is a form of TB caused by bacteria that do not respond to isoniazid and rifampicin, the 2 most effective first-line anti-TB drugs. 
• MDR-TB is treatable and curable by using second-line drugs. However, second-line treatment options are limited and require extensive chemotherapy (up to 2 years of treatment) with medicines that are expensive and toxic.

India and TB

• According to the WHO’s Global TB Report (2023), India accounts for 27 per cent of the total TB cases in the world.
• BCG was first introduced in a limited scale in 1948 and became a part of the National TB Control Programme in 1962.
• National Tuberculosis Elimination Programme (NTEP) aims at eliminating TB by 2025 in India. 

Why in News?

• Since the launch of the 100-day Intensified TB-Mukt Bharat Abhiyan on December 7, 2024, over 5.1 lakh notifications have been recorded across India. 
• The new strategy adopted under the programme is contributing in a big way by identifying sub-clinical or asymptomatic TB which contributes to TB transmission in the community, leading to a reduction in incidence by breaking the chains of transmission and reduction in mortality by early identification and treatment of TB. 
• The strategy is furthering acceleration of the progress and bringing India closer to its goal of eliminating TB.

https://pib.gov.in/PressReleasePage.aspx?PRID=2105575