Active tuberculosis detection campaign launched in Dakshina Kannada

The Department of Health and Family Welfare launched an active tuberculosis detection campaign on Monday.

The campaign launched by District Health Officer (DHO) Dr Kishore Kumar will continue until August 2.

District TB Control Officer Dr Badruddin said that survey will cover a total population of 3,64,310 residing in hazardous areas, quarry sites, industries, slum areas, migrants, unorganised labourers, those not covered under health care system, interior villages, areas with a high number of TB cases, destitute, inmates of old age homes, beedi workers, weavers and tribals.

As many as 740 teams (2 members in each team) have been trained to conduct the survey.

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He said those who have been suffering from cough for more than two weeks, fever in the evening hours, sudden weight loss, excessive sweating at night, pain in chest, phlegm with blood can get themselves tested when the teams visit the houses.

If a patient is tested positive for TB, then he/she can avail free treatment. TB is a contagious disease and a patient while sneezing or coughing can spread it to others. A TB patient who fails to undergo treatment is capable of spreading the disease to 10 to 15 patients in a year, he added.

One need not be scared of TB as it is completely curable. Once tuberculosis cases are detected, they it is notified in the Nikshay portal. In 2018, the total number of cases notified in DK was 3,256 while in 2019 it was 3,439. There were 2,472 cases in 2020, 2,438 in 2021 and 2,964 in 2022. From January 1 to July 17, 1,544 cases in DK were notified in the Nikshay portal, he added.