Around 14,720 tuberculosis cases were reported throughout the Sindh province in 2014 while the prevalence of disease has significantly reduced in the province as compared to 1999, said Sindh TB Control Program in-charge Dr Asmat Ara while talking to PPI on Friday.
She explained that around 31,795 people were screened throughout the province, out of which 14,720 were tested positive from first January to June 2014. She claimed that prevalence of TB disease had decreased as compared to 1,999. Referring a international survey carried out in 2012, she said prevalence of TB disease was 566 per 100,000 in 1999 and now number of cases had reached 348 per 100,000.
She explained that majority of TB cases were being reported from Karachi, Khairpur, Naushaehro Feroze, Larkana and Jamshoro districts. She said rising awareness and establishment of latest diagnostic centers in those districts had compelled people to get treatment which was being totally ignored in past due to lack of awareness. Ara said reporting of TB was high in Karachi city as compared to other parts of the province.
She further informed that 266 TB diagnostic centers were operating in different big cities and towns of the province. She said these centers were providing advance treatment facilities free of cost to patients affected from TB disease. She explained that data of TB patients collected by diagnostic centers was shared to district level centers and provincial TB program in inter-district meetings held every three month.
Dr Ara said mortality rate from TB disease had also dropped by 50 percent in last one decade. She explained 68,000 people died of TB disease in Pakistan in 1999 and now approximately 30,000 people die annually in the country from this disease. She said only three per cent people die of TB out of total reported cases every year in province.
She said tuberculosis was an infectious disease that usually affected adults. She said 87 people out of every 100 TB cases being reported in province were fully recovered from disease after treatment. Dr Ara claimed that TB was 100 per cent treatable, and stressed the need of early diagnosing and proper treatment of disease.
Up to 55,000 TB cases were reported across the Sindh province in 2013, while 20000 cases were detected in Karachi city last year.