PROPER WASTE MANAGEMENT, KEY TO TB PREVENTION


SORSOGON CITY -- Dr. Nancy Rose Labarete of the Regional Multi-Drug Resistant Tuberculosis/Programmed Management of Drug-Resistant TB Center here Sorsogon City calls on incoming local government officials to effectively implement the waste management ordinances in their respective areas of concern to prevent and control the spread of Tuberculosis (TB).

She likewise appeals to the public to observe proper spitting to avoid the spread of this respiratory disease.

Tuberculosis is a serious re-emerging bacterial illness that usually affects the lungs and is spread from person to person through the air.

TB may become active after 1-2 years after initial infection, but may be delayed for years, even a decade and becomes active after the onset of diabetes mellitus, during the period of stress, after steroid treatment, or when the immune system is impaired.

“Meaning, there are people who have been infected with TB but remains to be unrecognized,” Labarete explained.

“It can be prevented by keeping people from becoming infected with TB, treating people who have been infected of it, and above all, by implementing precautions in institutional settings to reduce the risk of TB transmission,” she said.

With the above-mentioned fact, Labarete bared that effective implementation of waste management ordinances particularly to depressed areas as well as passage and strict implementation of an anti-spitting ordinance is a preeminent means to prevent spread of the said airborne disease.

Meanwhile, Labarete said that Sorsogon is the only province in Bicol region which has an existing Multi-Drug Resistant (MDR) TB/Programmed Management of Drug-Resistant (PMD) TB Center that cures identified MDR-TB and Extremely-Drug Resistant TB patients.

The MDR/PMD-TB Center here currently assists 10 patients, of which six come from Sorsogon City. And since this is a regional center, they also cater patients from other provinces in the region.

“The number maybe minimal but we do not remove the possibility that there are more TB patients that are left unrecognized due to its being asymptomatic, so we continue to intensify our information and education campaign so that the public will know that TB is already curable and we have here in Sorsogon a center that is ready to help them,” she said. (BARecebido, PIA Sorsogon)