XN000022-1979-03-30 — Page 6

FRIDAY, MARCH 30, 1979

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TB TREATMENT SHORTENED

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WITH THE ADVANCE MADE IN MODERN MEDICINE, PATIENTS SUFFERING FROM TUBERCULOSIS WILL NO LONGER HAVE TO UNDERGO LONG PERIOD OF TREATMENT WHICH USUALLY LASTS 18 MONTHS.

THIS HAS BEEN MADE POSSIBLE BY USING A COMBINATION OF DRUGS IN A NEW SHORT COURSE TREATMENT WHICH HAS NOW BEEN INTRODUCED IN HONG KONG.

THE DIRECTOR OF MEDICAL AND HEALTH SERVICES, DR. K.L. THONG, STATED THIS WHEN HE ADDRESSED THE ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING OF THE HONG KONG ANTI-TUBERCULOSIS AND THORACIC DISEASE ASSOCIATION THIS (FRIDAY) EVENING.

+ONLY THE MOST DIFFICULT CASES, AND THESE ARE NOW IN SMALL MINORITY, NEED TO HAVE TREATMENT CONTINUED FOR MORE THAN SIX MONTHS AND FOR MANY, FOUR OF FIVE MONTHS MAY BE ENOUGH, HE SAID.

+SIX-MONTH TREATMENT MAY STILL SOUND LONG BUT IS, NEVERTHELESS, SURELY A DRAMATIC IMPROVEMENT ON THE PREVIOUS PERIOD OF 18 MONTHS, HE ADDED.

DR. THONG POINTED OUT THAT THE NOTIFICATION RATE OF TUBERCULOS IS DROPPED FROM 160 PER 100,000 POPULATION IN 1977 TO 144 LAST YEAR AND THE DEATH RATE FROM 11,8 TO ONLY NINE,

HOWEVER, HE WARNED THAT THE DISEASE COULD NOT BE LIGHTLY DISREGARDED AS THERE WERE STILL SOME 6,600 NOTIFICATIONS WITH 420 DEATHS REPORTED LAST YEAR.

+ INDEED, IT MUST BE EMPHASISED THAT TUBERCULOSIS REMAINS THE WORLD'S MOST IMPORTANT COMMUNICABLE DISEASE AND IT IS ESTIMATED THAT THERE ARE SOME SEVEN MILLION CASES OF ACTIVE TB IN THE WORLD TODAY WITH AT LEAST HALF A MILLION DEATHS A YEAR, HE SAID.

AT THE MOMENT, SAID DR. THONG, THERE MUST BE ABOUT 16,000 CASES OF ACTIVE TB IN THE HONG KONG COMMUNITY REQUIRING ATTENTION.

ALTHOUGH MANY WERE ALREADY UNDER TREATMENT THERE MUST STILL BE A SIGNIFICANT NUMBER OF HIDDEN CASES, HE SAID.

WITH THE INTRODUCTION OF THE SHORT COURSE CHEMOTHERAPY, THE DEPARTMENT'S CHEST SERVICE WILL BE LAUNCHING A CASE-FINDING CAMPAIGN IN MAY.

AS ELDERLY MEN ARE ESPECIALLY LIABLE TO SUFFER FROM ACTIVE INFECTIOUS TUBERCULOSIS, THE CAMPAIGN WILL BE FOCUSED ON THIS GROUP.

DR. THONG STRESSED THAT THE TREATMENT OF TUBERCULOSIS NOW IS +QUICK, FREE AND RARELY NEEDS HOSPITALISATION.+

+IT WILL ALSO BE A GOOD OPPORTUNITY TO REMIND EVERYONE THAT TB, IF NOT TREATED, REMAINS AN EXTREMELY DANGEROUS DISEASE,+ HE ADDED.

/DR. THONG