Officials wary of sudden surge in TB

Officials wary of sudden surge in TB

JAKARTA (JP): Health officials are wary of the possibility of
a sudden surge in tuberculosis infection due to the high number
of internally displaced people spread across the country.

"Fifty percent of the world's refugees have been infected by
tuberculosis (TB) and every year there are an average of 17,000
refugees hit by the illness," Director General for Communicable
Diseases Umar Fahmi told media in a briefing on World TB Day on
Friday.

There are an estimated 1.1 million refugees across the
country.

Chairman of the Indonesian Lung Doctors Association (PDPI) and
the chief of World TB Day Committee in Indonesia Tjandra Yoga
Aditama, further said each TB patient can transmit the illness to
10 to 15 other people.

"If in a refugee camp there is no adequate medicine...then the
possibility of the disease spreading will be around 15 times
higher," Tjandra said.

Tjandra further said that TB usually follows refugee-type
illnesses such as diarrhea and colds since the TB bacteria
assaults people with a low body immunity.

TB remains a major killer in Indonesia as it has ranked third
in recent years in the mortality list, following cardiovascular
and respiratory diseases, and ahead of infections/parasites and
diarrhea.

Sudiono of the Indonesia Association Against Tuberculosis
(PPTI) said that there are some 23,000 trained TB paramedics
available nationwide.

"We have a total of 11 clinics for TB nationwide, including
two in Jakarta.

"In Jakarta alone, from January 1998 to December 2000 there
were 10,757 TB patients. Around 85 percent of the patients could be
cured, while some 2.1 percent died due to late treatment and 2.6
percent were those who neglected treatment," Sudiono explained.

Data from the Indonesian Stop TB Initiative (Gerdunas TB) said
Indonesia registered the third greatest number of TB cases in the
world after India and China.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO) there are an
estimated 583,000 new TB cases in Indonesia annually.

Each year the disease is estimated to kill 140,000 people.

Separately, Minister of Health and Social Welfare Achmad
Sujudi said the government is committed to reducing the
prevalence of TB by 50 percent in the next five years with an
integrated anti-TB program.

On Friday the minister handed out awards for students in the
anti-tobacco poster campaign.

"Smokers are prone to catch tuberculosis. Therefore we hope
this integrated campaign will effectively reduce the number of
both smokers and TB patients," Sujudi said.

The winners in the Friday anti-tobacco poster competition were
(in the Junior High School category): Mariana Jessica of Santa
Ursula, Ryan Ricardo of Canisius and Caroline of Tarsisius I,
all in Jakarta, while in the Senior High School category the
winners were Titah Widiyoko of BK3 in Boyolali, Central Java,
Indri Vini Natalia of Fons Vitae in East Jakarta and Hilmy Sukma
Aditya of Kristen Samaria Kudus in West Jakarta. (edt)