TB, a notifiable disease since May 7, 2012

TB, a notifiable disease since May 7, 2012

 Early diagnosis and complete treatment of TB is the cornerstone of TB prevention and control strategy. Inappropriate diagnosis and irregular/incomplete treatment with anti–TB drugs may contribute to complications, disease spread and emergence of Drug Resistant TB. 

So, it is essential to have complete information of all TB cases. Therefore, the healthcare providers shall notify every TB case to local authorities i.e. District Health Officer/Chief Medical Officer of a district and Municipal health Officer of a Municipal Corporation/Municipality every month in a given format (attached). 

For the purpose of case notification, a TB case is defined as follows:

• A patient diagnosed with at least one sputum specimen positive for acid fast bacilli, or Culture–positive for Mycobacterium tuberculosis, or RNTCP endorsed Rapid Diagnostic molecular test positive for tuberculosis, or
• A patient diagnosed clinically as a case of TB, without microbiologic confirmation and initiated on anti–TB drugs.

For the purpose of this notification, healthcare providers will include clinical establishments run or managed by the Government (including local authorities), private or NGO sectors and/or individual practitioners. 

(Source: Ministry of Health and Family Welfare) 

TB Notification

All doctors/establishments dealing with TB cases are required to notify the authority (Municipal/DHO) about TB cases as per the following proforma

Period of reporting: From……………………………………………………/………………/………………To………………/……………………/…………………… Name of the health facility/ practitioner/ Laboratory:……………………………………………………
Registration Number:………………………………………………………… Telephone (with STD):………………………………
Complete Address:……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
Mobile number:……………………………

Sr No	Name of TB Patient/ID of patient	Age (yrs)	Sex (M/F/O)	Gol issued identification number (Aadhaar, etc), if available	Complete residential address	Patient Phone number	Date of TB Diagnosis	Date of TB treatment initiation

Signature:………………………………………………………
Date:……………………………………

New TB test promises to be cheap and fast: The small gold spots in this microfluidic chip carry DNA that detects gamma interferon to test for latent TB. The signal can be read through electrodes. (Ying Liu / UC Davis photo).Current tests for latent TB are based on detecting interferon-gamma, a disease-fighting chemical made by cells of the immune system. Commercially available tests require sending samples to a lab, and can be used just once.