Tuberculosis can be prevented by adopting the following measures :
a) Improvement of social conditions : Conditions which increase risk of becoming infect& with tuberculosis such as overcrowding should be removed. Housing which has proper ventilation (allowing proper light and air) should be provided particularly to the poorer communities. You may be aware that in every city, the Government has been undertaking construction of a large number of well planned low cost houses to rehabilitate the poor like the slum dwellers. Such steps could help in the control of tuberculosis.
The community should be educated about the mode of spread of the disease (to avoid indiscriminate spitting in public places) and motivated to seek medical advice early in case of any prolonged fever, cough, loss of appetite etc.
b) Early detection and treatment : You can prevent and control tuberculosis by detecting early all the case of tuberculosis i.e. in the initial stages of infection and providing prompt treatment. But, for diagnosis of the patients you require medical and laboratory facilities for examination of the patients. It is also important that all the family members who would have been in close contact with a tuberculosis patient and all those suspected of having tuberculosis should also be examined carefully. For this medical and laboratory facilities for tuberculin test and microscopic examination of sputum should be made available. In addition facilities for prompt treatment of all the positive cases should be provided.
c) BCG Vaccination : Vaccination of uninfected (tuberculin negative) confers variable protection. It is particularly recommended to prevent infantile tuberculosis. Some controlled trails indicate that protection against tuberculosis after BCG vaccination may last for 12 years. Recent studies in India indicate that it is not very effective in preventing adult tuberculosis. In India, BCG is given to infants the age of 3 months.
Elimination of tuberculosis among dairy cattle, tuberculin testing of the cattle and slaughter of reactors to the test and pasteurization of milk help in preventing bovine tuberculosis.
Management of Tuberculosis : Most primary infections are often inapparent and heal without treatment. When primary infection is diagnosed in children anti- tuberculous therapy with the drug Isoniazid reduces the risk of the disease progessing further.
Patients Meting from pulmonary tuberculosis should be given prompt merit with an appropriate combination of antimicrobial drugs for a minimum of twelve months. Current accepted regimens include using'a combination of drugs like Isoniazid, Ethambutol, Streptomycin and Paraamino Salicylic Acid (PAS). Rifampicin is recommended for resistant cases i.e. those not responding to the above regimen of treatments.
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