XN000022-1979-06-24 — Page 2

SUNDAY, JUNE 24, 1979

SHORT AND EFFECTIVE TREATMENT FOR TB PATIENTS

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HONG KONG HAS LEAPT TO THE FRONT IN THE GLOBAL FIGHT AGAINST TUBERCULOS IS WITH THE ADOPTION OF A NEW TREATMENT REGIME THAT IS SHORT, EFFECTIVE AND FREE.

EXPLAINING THE SHORT-COURSE CHEMOTHERAPY FOR TB PATIENTS, A SPOKESMAN FOR THE MEDICAL AND HEALTH DEPARTMENT SAID TODAY (SUNDAY) THAT THE TREATMENT CONSISTED OF SEVERAL DRUGS TAKEN TOGETHER OVER A PERIOD OF FOUR TO SIX MONTHS.

+THIS REPRESENTS A VAST IMPROVEMENT OVER THE PREVIOUS TREATMENT WHICH NORMALLY LASTS 18 MONTHS,+ HE EMPHASISED.

THE SPOKESMAN SAID THAT THE NEW TREATMENT REGIME WAS INTRODUCED IN MARCH THIS YEAR AND THE RESULTS SO FAR HAVE BEEN MOST ENCOURAGING.

+MOST TB PATIENTS CAN NOW BE TREATED ON A WHOLLY OUTPATIENT BASIS AND INDEED THE MAJORITY CAN GO ON WITHOUT ANY INTERRUPTION TO THE IR WORK IN ANY WAY,+ HE SAID.

HE STRESSED THAT TREATMENT IS AVAILABLE COMPLETELY FREE AT THE EIGHT FULL-TIME GOVERNMENT CHEST CLINICS IN THE URBAN AREAS AND THE PART-TIME CLINICS IN THE NEW TERRITORIES.

THE DEPARTMENT IS LAUNCHING AN INTENSIVE PUBLICITY CAMPAIGN IN AN EFFORT TO FURTHER REDUCE THE INCIDENCE OF TUBERCULOS IS WHICH, UNTIL RECENT YEARS, HAD BEEN ONE OF THE TOP KILLER DISEASES IN HONG KONG.

THE OBJECT OF THE CAMPAIGN IS TO GET PEOPLE WITH

SYMPTOMS OF PERSISTENT COUGH FOR MORE THAN A MONTH, PARTICULARLY THE MORE VULNERABLE AGE GROUP OF 40 AND ABOVE, TO ATTEND THE GOVERNMENT CHEST CLINICS FOR A CHECK UP SO THAT APPROPRIATE TREATMENT CAN BE GIVEN AT THE EARLY STAGE OF INFECTION.

THE SPOKESMAN POINTED OUT THE INCIDENCE OF TUBERCULOS IS HAS DECLINED MARKEDLY OVER THE PAST 10 YEARS AS A RESULT OF COMBINED EFFORTS BY VARIOUS GOVERNMENT DEPARTMENTS, THE HONG KONG ANTI-TUBERCULOSIS AND THORACIC DISEASES ASSOCIATION AND OTHER PROFESSIONAL BODIES.

THE NOTIFICATION RATE, FOR INSTANCE, HAS DROPPED FROM 257.5 PER 100,000 POPULATION IN 1968 TO 143.8 IN 1978 WHILE THE DEATH RATE FELL DRASTICALLY FROM 39 PER 100,000 POPULATION TO 9.1.

HOWEVER, THE SPOKESMAN WARNED THAT DESPITE THE TREMENDOUS ACHIEVEMENT THE PROBLEM OF TUBERCULOSIS AS A HEALTH THREAT TO THE COMMUNITY IS STILL A LARGE ONE.

CONCERN

IN THE

+TUBERCULOSIS IS STILL A DISEASE OF MAJOR WORLD, AND MUCH REMAINS TO BE DONE BEFORE THE DISEASE CAN BE ERADICATED, HE SAID.

/ACCORDING TO