Reducing the burden of Tuberculosis: an emphasis on improving awareness among caregivers

Background: Tuberculosis (TB) is one of the common communicable disease affecting human beings since ancient times. Though effective chemotherapy emerged during 20th century had raised hope towards eliminating TB burden, it still remains as a distant goal. Awareness about TB among close contacts of active disease is of paramount importance in preventing its spread and promoting early diagnosis and treatment. This study aimed to assess the knowledge about tuberculosis among caregivers of tuberculosis patients.Methods: This was a cross sectional study that enrolled 300 subjects who were then caregivers of tuberculosis patients admitted in the Department of Pulmonary Medicine. Subjects were interviewed according to a predesigned panel of questions meant to assess their basic knowledge and perceptions about tuberculosis symptomatology, diagnostic modalities, treatment and prevention.Results: About 90.3% (n=271) of subjects had heard about TB previously and about 37.7% (n=113) considered themselves to be well aware of it. Most of them believed TB to be communicable (90.3%, n=271). Majority believed that TB affects lungs only (n=206, 68.7%), with most commonly perceived symptom being cough (n=285, 95%). Knowledge regarding disposal of sputum was poor (n=110, 36.7%). About 168 (56%) subjects considered usage of face mask by the patient as an effective tool for TB prevention.Conclusions: Caregivers of tuberculosis patients lack proper knowledge about major aspects of the disease. Public awareness and care giver education programs needs to be implemented along with standard TB care to reduce transmission of TB among close contacts

Hypoplasia of lung a rare entity mimicking as a case of tuberculosis

Pulmonary hypoplasia, a congenital malformation, is characterized by incomplete development of the lungs, leading to an abnormally less number or dimensions of bronchopulmonary segments / alveoli resulting in small fibrotic and non-functional lung. It is usually diagnosed in the neonatal period or in early childhood. Hypoplasia may be primary (idiopathic) or secondary. Primary pulmonary hypoplasia, not related to other congenital anomalies is extremely seldom diagnosed in adults. We report the case of a 32-year-old married female with two kids presented to us with chief complaints of cough and fever for past nine months. Chest radiograph showed opacification of the left hemi-thorax with decrease in its size and marked ipsilateral mediastinal displacement with an increase in volume of right lung. After investigations she was diagnosed as a case of left lung primary pulmonary hypoplasia. High level of excellent clinical judgement needed to spot and diagnose this congenital aberration, often wrongly diagnosed in adults. Hence, once confronted with an opaque hemi-thorax in a young person with ipsilateral shift of the mediastinum, differential diagnosis of “lung hypoplasia” ought to be kept in mind