Mumbai civic body to follow up with recovered Covid-19 patients for TB symptoms

As Covid-19 and tuberculosis (TB) share similar symptoms, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has instructed all hospitals in the city to check patients

As Covid-19 and tuberculosis (TB) share similar symptoms, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has instructed all hospitals in the city to check patients who have recovered from Covid-19 for TB.

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According to the World Health Organization (WHO), TB and Covid-19 are both infectious diseases that primarily attack the lungs. Both diseases have similar symptoms such as cough, fever and difficulty in breathing. “As the pandemic advances, more people of all ages, including TB patients, will be exposed to Covid-19,” reads the note released by WHO in May.

In Mumbai, 135 TB patients have been co-infected with Sars-CoV-2, the virus that causes Covid-19. Of this, 18 have succumbed to the infection, mostly because of late diagnosis. “Most of these co-infection cases have been identified in new TB patients. They approached hospitals considering it just Covid-19 infection. But when their CT scan report showed different forms of clouding in lungs, their sputum culture confirmed that they were also carrying the bacteria of TB,” said Dr Lalit Anande, medical superintendent, Sewri TB Hospital. “Both of these infections affect people with lower immunity,” he said.

In view of this, a circular has been issued instructing all private and public hospitals to follow up with Covid-19 recovered patients to check if they have developed any symptoms similar to TB such as coughing, loss of appetite, fatigue, among others.

“If any of them show such symptoms, we will run a sputum test to check if he/she has TB,” said Dr Pranita Tipre, deputy health officer, BMC. “But so far, we have not diagnosed any recovered Covid-19 patients with TB,” she added.

In addition, BMC has also added TB in the questionnaire for the door-to-door survey under ‘Your Family, Your Responsibility’. “During the survey, if anyone is found with TB-like symptoms, we will also run a diagnosis on it,” she added.

Social workers have welcomed the decision of the civic body which may help to identify post Covid-19 TB patients.

“When a patient is found positive for Covid-19, many hospitals don’t run a sputum test for TB. So, there is no way to know if the person also has TB as the symptoms are similar. Thus, it is important to check on these recovered patients as TB has a longer incubation period with a slower onset of disease,” said Ganesh Acharya, TB activist.