Mpuma nears TB 'hot spot'
2005-01-31 22:57
Witbank - Mpumalanga is a fraction away from being declared a World Health Organisation (WHO) "hot spot" for multi-drug resistant tuberculosis (TB).
The prevalence of multi-drug resistant TB among newly diagnosed patients in the province is 2,7%.
Premier Thabang Makwetla said: "This is approaching the WHO "hot spot" level of three percent"
Addressing the official opening of the Airborne Infection Research Facility in Witbank at the weekend, he said from this year, home-based care workers would be trained to implement the Directly Observed Treatment Short-course (Dots) strategy.
Dots is a strategy to detect and cure TB before it becomes multi-drug resistant.
TB becomes multi-drug resistant when patients fail to complete their course of drugs.
Makwetla said South Africa is a pioneer country in developing and implementing a standardised treatment regimen for multi-drug resistant TB.
He said the Dots-plus programme, which manages multi-drug resistant, TB, is already being implemented in the country and is one of the biggest internationally.
TB is a lung disease and remains one of the world's greatest killers.
It is spread mainly through the air and indoors.
Makwetla said: "Lessons learned about TB and the control of the disease can be applied to other airborne diseases like influenza, Sars and smallpox."
He said the research facility would look at the role of pollutants in the prevalence and spread of disease.