Ludhiana: Drop-out cases among TB patients doubled in Covid pandemic

Drop outs among tuberculosis patients in Ludhiana increased from 4% to 8% during the pandemic, even though experts say their was no spike in Covid deaths due to the bacterial disease

The district has witnessed a two-fold increase in the number of tuberculosis cases reported in the district since the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic, which is known to prove fatal for those with a compromised immune system.

It was seen that more cases were being reported from urban areas due to a a large influx of migrants and poor working and living conditions in water-tight compartments in Ludhiana. (Representative Image/iStock)

The findings in the industrial town of Ludhiana are not unique, as per the World Health Organisation there has ubiquitously been a significant increase in cases of students afflicted with the disease dropping out. Drop outs among tuberculosis patients in Ludhiana increased from 4% to 8% during the pandemic.

As things are return to normalcy, there has also been a spike in the number of tuberculosis cases being reported across the district. As per district TB in-charge Ashish Chawla during the first and second waves of the pandemic, the drop out rate had been almost 8%.

“It was largely because of the exodus of migrant labour districts. Those who lost their jobs returned home and many discontinued their tuberculosis treatment. Now with the labour returning, tuberculosis cases are also beginning to rise again,” said Chawla, adding that locals who stayed behind continued to be treated.

Patients also took advantage of the government scheme of allowing patients to keep a stock of medicine for a month. “Normally, we would detect 6,000 to 7,000 cases in a year, but this year the figures have crossed 13,000 already. However, there has been no rise in tuberculosis deaths and it maintained an average of 4%,” said Chawla.

No spike in Covid deaths due to tuberculosis

While most people believe that tuberculosis patients are more susceptible to Covid, but the report compiled by the district health department has shown no such trend.

“Around 1% of tuberculosis patients were found to be Covid positive, which is the same as the national average of cases. I believe it was largely because of the widespread coverage of the coronavirus vaccination program,” said Dr Chawla.

Most tuberculosis cases detected in dingy migrant colonies

It was seen that more cases were being reported from urban areas due to a a large influx of migrants and poor working and living conditions in water-tight compartments. “The lifestyle of the urban population is such and they do not pay much attention to the warning signs, owing to which, more cases are detected from urban areas. As may as 80% of the cases are of pulmonary tuberculosis,” he said.

What WHO report says

As per WHO’s 2021 global tuberculosis report, reporting of tuberculosis cases in India went down by 41% between 2019 and 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic. The UN health agency said 1.5 million people worldwide had died of the bacterial disease last year, a slight rise from the 1.4 million deaths in 2019.

The increase in tuberculosis deaths, a first in more than a decade, took place in mainly 30 countries with the highest caseload, including India. The report said the number of people newly diagnosed with TB and those reported to national governments fell to 5.8 million in 2020 from 7.1 million in 2019.

WHO estimates that some 4.1 million people currently suffer from tuberculosisbut have not been diagnosed with the disease.