Berhampur: With over 200 people dying every year, tuberculosis (TB) has emerged as a major killer disease in Ganjam district of Odisha after the AIDS.
"TB and HIV are co-related and we have given much stress on the TB control as it has the highest number of HIV-positive cases in the state," said a senior medical officer on the sidelines of a meeting held at Berhampur to observe the World TB Day yesterday.
"Our percentage of death in the disease is calculated at 3 to 4 per cent as against 5 per cent in national average," District TB officer Ananda Samantara, however, said adding the death rate due to the disease in the district was not alarming as compared to the national average.
The Revised Tuberculosis Control Programme (RNTCP) was being implemented in the district with an aim to check the disease through Directly Observed Treatment Short course Strategy (DOTS) since February 16, 2004. Besides the DOTS Plus, a Multi-Drug Resistant (MDR) TB programme was implemented in the district since April 1, 2009.
Official reports said 4748 tuberculosis cases were registered in the district in 2014 as against 4496 in 2013 and 5338 in 2012. Similarly the number of death in the disease in the district was registered at 221 in 2014, they said.
The co-infected (TB with HIV) cases in the district also increased.
While 246 such patients were detected in 2013, their number rose to 307 in 2014, the reports said.
The number of patients increased in the district because more people visited to the TB units, Mr Samantara said.
Awareness among the people for early treatment of the TB was necessary to minimize the death in the disease, said district Malaria Officer Uma Shankar Mishra.
A chariot to create awareness to treat early was flagged off by the Sub-Collector, Berhampur, Nikhil Pawan Kalyan.
Commissioner, Berhampur Municipal Corporation (BMC) Anjana Panda also called for early treatment of the patients.
"Multi-approach is needed to pursue the patients for treatment," she said.