The number of cases of tuberculosis in Jordan, specifically among the Syrian refugees, has been mentioned. There are 100 confirmed cases, 35 of them in Za’tari camp and the surrounding areas, with an estimated 50 unexplored cases in the Kingdom .
For me, the importance of this issue lies not in the disease itself, but because of the burden of disease on the individual and society.
Tuberculosis is a bacterial infection that affects the respiratory system in general, and may sometimes spread to other organs of the body such as the heart, kidney, bone and others. It is often a disease that is cured by the person and in rare cases, complications of the disease may lead to death.
Infection is transmitted from one person to another if the patient has active pulmonary tuberculosis, as the cough and sneeze spray is loaded with active TB bacteria.
It is important to know that there is a period of time between the disease and the emergence of symptoms, also not everyone who is exposed to an infected person in turn the disease, the vast majority of people can be immune system to fight and contain, and about 10% show symptoms.
Symptoms of pulmonary tuberculosis:
1. Chronic cough may be up to 4 weeks.
2. Cough accompanied by blood with phlegm (hemoptysis).
3. Extreme sweating especially during the night.
4. Heat rise.
5. Weight loss.
TB diagnosis is done in one of the following ways:
1. Tuberculin skin test.
2. Examination of a sputum smear.
3. Blood test.
I will not touch on other types of TB nor the details of treatment. But what I want to be clear is the long period of time required by treatment, ranging from 6 to 9 months depending on the diagnosis of each case. Also if a person has active TB, it should be placed in an isolation chamber until it is not contagious. This may require a period of 4 to 6 weeks.
For this reason, the length of treatment and the need in most cases to isolate the patient, I see it is a very important subject with a great burden on the individual and the community and should not be passed on to him but must be dealt with seriously.