After one-month treatment, patients with TB turn negative

Sari P. Setiogi, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

People with tuberculosis (TB) can safely return to work with two weeks or a month of beginning treatment, a pulmonologist said.

Tjandra Yoga Aditama of the Persahabatan General Hospital in Rawamangun, East Jakarta, said many TB patients were not allowed to return to their workplaces until they had completed nine months of medical treatment. He said this requirement was unnecessary and the result of misinformation.

"After undergoing conventional medical treatment for between two weeks and one month, workers with TB can be allowed to return to their workplaces. Physically, they will be able to do their jobs and the TB bacteria in their bodies will not spread to other workers," he told The Jakarta Post on the sidelines of a seminar on TB and the workplace. The seminar was organized by the Indonesian Association for the Eradication of Tuberculosis (PPTI) here on Friday.

Tjandra said it was unfortunate many doctors recommended that TB patients not return to work before completing nine months of treatment. He also said many members of the public were under the false impression that TB sufferers must be avoided or isolated to prevent them from infecting others.

"The public should know that workers with TB should be allowed to work while completing their treatment," he said, adding that lab tests showed TB patients no longer posed a danger to others after a month of treatment.

Several corporate doctors attending the seminar suggested the medicine for TB patients be kept at their respective offices.

"It would be easier for doctors to control the medication process because workers go to the office every day," said a doctor.

Tuberculosis patients must take medication regularly for six months, even though in most cases patients feel better in two or three months.

"If the medication is not finished, a patient could become even sicker. The TB bacteria in his or her body might become even more difficult to fight," the chairwoman of the PPTI, Ratih Siswono Yudhohusodo, told the Post.

Another concern is discriminatory hiring practices, "since most companies will reject applicants with TB clots on their X- ray results", Tjandra said.

People who have suffered from TB in the past might still show clots in their lung X-rays, and it would be unfair for these people to be rejected by companies, he said.

According to the secretary-general of PPTI, H. Soediono, there are about 583,000 new infections in Indonesia every year, with up to 140,000 fatalities.

According to the World Health Organization, TB is the third biggest killer disease in the world, while Indonesia has the third largest number of TB patients after China and India.

------------------------------------------------------------- Tips for employers handling TB cases

(1) Ask any employee suspected of having TB to visit a pulmonologist (2) Give your employee leave for about one month, after which he or she can return to work as usual (3) Remind your employee to finish his or her medication (4) Remind your employee to eat healthy foods with lots of nutrients, though providing the food would be even better (5) Treat your employee fairly -------------------------------------------------------------