Tuberculosis – Not Just a Disease of the Poor












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            * Tuberculosis – Not Just a Disease of the Poor
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            “Tuberculosis was and still is a disease of the poor but you may also contract it when you

            and employed at a government ministry, for example. All depends on your susceptibility to 
            come into contact with,” said Prof. MUDr. Jiří Homolka, DrSc., head of the First Departmen
            and Respiratory Diseases of the Charles University First Faculty of Medicine and the Gener

            Hospital, at an event to mark World Tuberculosis Day.                                     
            Tuberculosis still presents a global threat but does not get sufficient media attention, b
            times smaller than in India, China or Indonesia. Ninety percent of all TB cases occur in d
            asymptomatic tuberculosis. In Europe, the situation is most severe in Romania, Moldova and
                                                                                                      
            “When I ask students at the First Faculty of Medicine to guess the annual number of newly 

            cases in the Czech Republic, fifth-year students say fifty. Our latest data come from 2009
            710 cases in this country. It is a decrease compared to the 879 cases in 2008 but there is
            discrepancy between the population’s awareness and reality,” Prof. Homolka says. He says h

            public doesn’t realize the actual threat of the disease and sees TB as a “dinosaur”, an ex
            longer around but whose petrified eggs are found from time to time.
            “Tuberculosis should be given permanent attention – because even though the Czech Republic

            sophisticated monitoring system of the disease, it remains to be seen how immigration will
            development of the situation,” the expert says, adding that “the fight against TB began in
            unfortunate year 1948 when the state decided to take action against the disease. Since the

            been a steady drop in the number of cases, with the exception of the years immediately aft
            Revolution. On November 1, 2010, obligatory BCG vaccination was officially discontinued an
            administered on a selective basis in high risk groups of newborns. It will take time for t

            change to become apparent and it is impossible to clearly predict the further development 
            TB in the Czech Republic.”
            At present, in the under-20 group, TB is diagnosed mostly in patients who had not been vac

            Paediatricians must be prepared for the fact that this diagnosis may occur more frequently
            “As a parent, you need to realize that vaccination protects the individual against serious
            tuberculosis and works as a prevention. If children are vaccinated, they are protected dur

            vulnerable period of their lives. The decrease in the number of TB cases however is mainly
            diagnosis, isolation and treatment,” Prof. Jiří Homolka concludes.
             Prof. MUDr. Jiří Homolka, DrSc.

            is a leading expert in the field of pulmonary diseases. He is a member of the European Res
            (ERS), the American College of Chest Physicians (ACCP) and the German Society for Pneumolo
            P.K


            Translation: Pavla Horáková