Monday, March 24, 2008

World TB Day 2008

India is a Hotbed of Tuberculosis Cases


When Rambhau Patil, 35, from Wada was diagnosed with bilateraltuberculosis, he decided to move to his aunt's place in Mumbai to seekbetter treatment. Little did Patil know that he would infect two moremembers of his family with tuberculosis.


"We found out how infectious the disease is the hard way," says LeelaBhave, whose husband and five-year-old son contracted TB through Patil.


The trio has been undergoing treatment for more than nine months now.The Bhaves are not the only ones to have met with such a cruel fate. Itis estimated that nearly six lakh Indians, unaware that they suffer fromTB, continue to infect a large number of healthy people around them."Fear of going to a doctor, expenses, and stigma are the three biggestfactors that make tb the deadly disease that it is in India," says DrARK Pillai, who has worked with TB patients for several years and isPresident of the Indian Development Foundation (IDF).

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