2004-9-7
This is Gwen Outen with the VOA Special English Health
Report.
Experts on tuberculosis say the best treatment program for this
lung disease is DOTS. DOTS is directly observed treatment,
short-course. This means health care workers watch patients take
their medicine every day. This is a way to make sure patients take
medicine long enough to kill the germs that cause TB.
China recently reported a drop in tuberculosis rates because of
DOTS. There has also been some success in the Philippines. But
public health centers identified only sixty percent of TB cases in
the country. So Philippine health officials have decided also to
include private doctors in the program.
Experts hope such efforts will reduce the spread of the kind of
tuberculosis that resists common drugs. People with drug-resistant
TB must take medicines that cost much more. And they must take these
for eighteen to twenty-four months.
Normally, patients with TB must take medicine for six to eight
months. The DOTS program calls for direct observation for the first
two months at least.
Health experts say most people treated for TB are cured. But
getting people to take all their medicine is not the only problem.
Around the world, experts say only thirty-seven percent of TB cases
are ever identified.
The World Health Organization is trying new ways to educate
people to see a health worker as soon as they show signs of the
disease. Earlier this year, a program started in Kenya. The program
is called COMBI, which means Communication for Behavioral Impact.
Kenyan schoolchildren take home information about TB. People also
get information through television and in movies and when they go
into businesses. Colorful signs identify health care centers where
people can be tested.
Doctors say people who have a cough that does not go away after
three weeks should get tested for TB. Infected people spread the
bacteria through the air when they cough. Also, people with TB often
have hiccups that will not stop. They may sweat at night and feel
very hot.
Yet there are reasons why people do not go to a doctor when they
have signs of TB. They may not think a cough is very serious. They
may need to keep working even though they are sick. Finding a doctor
may not be easy. In the words of a W.H.O. report, "Knowing what to
do is different from doing it."
This VOA Special English Health Report was written by Karen
Leggett. This is Gwen Outen.