Sangrur, August 18
Of the total 10,316 suspected tuberculosis (TB) cases in Sangrur district, 1,735 tested positive for the disease from January to July this year. Of them, 947 were males while 788 were women.
Of these 1,735 patients, 491 were new sputum positive cases, 436 extra-pulmonary (TB other than lungs) cases and the remaining sputum-negative cases. All these patients have been put on directly observed treatment short course (DOTS), with medicines being provided free of cost under the revised national tuberculosis control programme (RNTCP).
District TB officer Dr Parveen Jindal said of the 436 extra-pulmonary TB cases, 162 were of pleural effusion (fluid in lungs), 120 of uterus, 87 of lymph node, 47 of bones, 18 of abdomen and two of eyes. He said female patients (276) were more as compared to males (160).
During the last four months, the district TB centre authorities at the civil hospital here sent sputum samples of 62 suspected multi-drug resistant (MDR) TB patients to the All-India Institute of Medical Sciences, Delhi, for culture and sensitivity test. Of these, 12 tested positive.
Among them, three were from Sangrur, four from Sunam and five from Malerkotla. A patient from Malerkotla died before treatment could be started. Free treatment of the MDR TB cases was started in April this year at the centre. The treatment is highly costly, ranging from Rs 2 lakh to Rs 2.50 lakh per patient. The duration of treatment is from 18 months to 24 months.
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