Dr. P K Sasidharan
It is disgraceful for India to discuss TB control as mentioned in this write up in THE HINDU.
It is really pathetic and shameful that such people with weird concepts head India’s medical research and policy making.
The author, in the article, authentically states that everyone has to be screened with Xrays and costly lab tests and treat everyone with some evidence in these tests, irrespective of whether they are symptomatic or not.
We have been managing clinical and sub clinical TB cases for four decades in India and I can confidently state that what is discussed is wrong and totally absurd and out of place.
But the traditional practitioners should not rejoice when I criticise, because modern medicine only brought anti tuberculosis medications.
Sub clinical infections, even if present, can recover with focus on balanced diet and vitamin supplements is our experience.
We found Vitamin D deficiency, in our landmark study in 1999, in all patients with symptomatic tuberculosis.
But Vitamin D deficiency is only an indicator sign of malnutrition.
Anti tuberculosis medications have changed the treatment scenario of tuberculosis but now we are abusing it.
Please know that 99 percent people here do not even know what a balanced diet is.
Before discovery of anti tuberculosis treatment in the 1950s, upto 80 percent recovered, though slowly and with prolonged morbidity, with good food and fresh air.
High mortality of symptomatic patients was a reality those days.
But scientific treatment has stopped mortality and prolonged morbidity.
In other words all symptomatic patients too did not require anti tuberculosis medications.
The author fails to highlight the importance of poverty or malnutrition as the basis of the high TB prevalence of our country.
Malnutrition is not starvation – even rich people have malnutrition here because 98 percent even do not know what a balanced diet is
Let us talk about ways and means of making the people consume a balanced diet to fight sub clinical TB infection rather than wasting money on costly screening tests and avoidable treatments
Proper diet and good lifestyle will also prevent both clinical and sub clinical infections in future and fight several other diseases.
Always remember that tuberculosis is a disease of marginalisation of one or other kind.
Marginalised does not mean poor – they are unaware what to eat and what not to eat
Many are not empowered to eat a balanced diet.
TB control in India- the right and wrong
