Question

Why do TB pertient stop their treatment at mid way through the course?

Answer 1

Neglect in taking complete course of treatment for multi-drug- resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB) or extreme drug resistant TB. And there is every need for TB patients to complete full course of treatment as chances of curing MDR-TB are comparatively lower compared to normal TB form. More than 42,000 cases of TB are reported in Telangana every year. Besides them, about 3,000 cases of MDR-TB are also detected too. However, the number is only from government records. There might be more number of cases in private hospitals which are not reported. Doctors and health officials say that abrupt stoppage of TB medication results in MDR-TB. Pointing out the primary reason for patients to give up treatment, they said that after about six weeks of TB first line drug usage, prominent symptoms of TB come down. Assuming the health condition has improved and that there is no need to continue the treatment, patients stop taking the drugs. “Only the slow-growing TB batch gets killed with first line of drugs. If the drug usage is discontinued after six weeks or so, the dormant form of the batch becomes active,” said Dr Ch Surya Prakash, Telangana state TB officer. Thereafter, the TB batch undergoes mutation and becomes resistant to the first line drugs, resulting in MDR-TB. And a new drug regimen has to be designed to cure the drug-resistant TB based on a patient’s reaction to medicines. Doctors say that there are more than 90 per cent chances to cure TB using the first line of drugs. And the chances come down as the disease progresses. “There are only 50 per cent chances for MDR-TB to be curable. Treatment of TB is costly. Patients undergoing the treatment have to be under observation as MDR-TB drugs have serious complications,” says Dr Surya Prakash. The government has put in place a mechanism to cure MDR-TB patients. To closely monitor reaction of drugs, if any, the government does not hand over the entire drug dosage to patients. Patients have to visit health staff everyday to collect the drugs. The entire cost of treatment is taken care by the government. Additionally, patients are paid for travel expenses incurred on commuting to the health centre to collect the drugs.