Drug Resistant TB Alert!

Tuberculosis (TB) is back with a vengeance in Europe, now!

For those of you who travel frequently to Europe or Central Asia, just be cautious of your surrounding. Having said that, it does not mean you can relax just because you are in Malaysia. Our government has been trying hard for yearssss to bring down the statistics. For example in Penang alone, there were about 200 to 300 TB cases in 2004 but it has risen to over 1,000 cases in 2010. And that is in Penang alone.

TB is spread airborne, unlike H1N1 which is spread via respiratory droplets. The mycobacterium tuberculosis (the germ that causes TB) could stay afloat in the air for at least four hours.

Millions of TB germs are spewed into the air when an infected person coughs, sneezes, talks, laughs, or even if he sings.

H1N1 may kill you within days but TB is a "torturing device" that tortures you for years before killing you! In fact HIV and TB are like brothers and sisters.

Please read the article at The Star here - Dangerous TB spreading at alarming rate in Europe - WHO.

TB is curable but it has returned with a vengeance. They came back in the form of drug resistant TB, which are either Multi Drug Resistant TB (MDR-TB) or Extensive Drug Resistant TB (XDR TB). These two types of TB are not easy to be cured. So, please do not take this lightly.

Thanks to people who do not know how to observe proper hygiene and those who do not practice simple cough/sneeze etiquette, that is why TB is spreading at an alarming rate.

Just remember the simple rule, if you are coughing for more than two weeks, see the doctor asap to query about TB.

And please, please, please, do NOT see the sinseh (traditional Chinese doctor). There is NO herbal treatment for TB.

You have to see a doctor in a hospital for a proper treatment. And yes, our government hospitals in Malaysia provide treatment at a very affordable cost. And I do really mean it, affordable, like just a few ringgit. Do not delay your treatment because TB is like a tumour. It grows very fast once you are infected and it eats up your lungs. And the damage is irreversible.