[World Tuberculosis Day] Tuberculosis, domestic incidence and mortality are still overwhelming number one
The Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is pushing for 'measures to strengthen preventive management for tuberculosis' and its goals for early eradication in 2030.
Domestic group activity related to tuberculosis is temporarily 'suspended' and online activity is getting worse due to the Corona 19 incident.
It’s time for action!,
It’s time to END TB! |
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Every year, March 24 is World Tuberculosis Day. Tuberculosis, called the worst epidemic in history, is a serious epidemic that kills three people every minute around the world.
There is still a widespread perception that it is a disease that occurs in Korea in poor countries. On the occasion of Tuberculosis Day, with continued interest in prevention and
management of infectious diseases reinforced by the Corona 19 incident.
Governments, organizations and pharmaceutical companies are striving to attract social attention to tuberculosis depending on the domestic situation. |
According to the World Health Organization, tuberculosis is one of the top 10 causes of death worldwide, taking more lives than AIDS or malaria every year.
According to the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's tuberculosis status in Korea, 23,821 people were born in 2019. Tuberculosis rates among residents of some small towns in Korea were found to be 12 times higher than those of ordinary people.
Although the figure has decreased to the largest on-year in the past decade, Korea ranks first in the incidence of tuberculosis among 35 OECD member countries.
In particular, Korea also ranks first in the incidence of "multi-drug resistant tuberculosis" caused by tuberculosis bacteria that are resistant to representative tuberculosis treatments.
Multidrug-resistant tuberculosis still has a low success rate despite its long treatment period and high cost, and research continues to shorten the treatment period.
A cohort study in Korea showed a success rate of 45 percent of 1,407 patients with multidrug-resistant tuberculosis and a 32 percent suspension of treatment, revealing the seriousness and problems of multi-drug-resistant tuberculosis management in Korea.
Current status of multidrug-resistant tuberculosis treatment in Korea - Sirturo, Deltyba
Tuberculosis can be "perfectly cured" through proper medication.
Im Jae-jeong, a respiratory medicine professor at Korea University Guro Hospital, said that tuberculosis is a fundamentally internal disease and a disease that can be completely cured with appropriate treatment, adding that regular medication with at least six months of long-term and uninterrupted middle-of-the-road treatment is needed.
On the other hand, multidrug-resistant tuberculosis patients generally have to take anti-tuberculosis drugs of more than four drugs, three to four times longer than the average treatment period, and feel a heavy burden due to the heavy cost burden.
Korean Yansen's "Sirturo (Bedaquiline)," which was released as a salary in 2015, and Korea Otsuka Pharmaceutical's "Deltyba (Delamanid)," have improved and supplemented the shortcomings of existing treatments that have many pills to take and have severe side effects.
Existing multidrug-resistant tuberculosis patients had to take at least 20 pills every day for at least 20 months, but the period and number of times decreased significantly, including taking them once a day or three times a week for 24 weeks through the new drug Suturor and Delta.
Suturor, the first multi-drug-resistant tuberculosis treatment approved by FDA, Asia and Korea, features a differentiated mechanism to effectively block tuberculosis bacteria's cloning by uniquely curbing ATP synthase, an essential enzyme for the creation of an energy source for tuberculosis bacteria.
An official from Korea Yansen stressed, "The previous clinical study showed strong sterilization and sterilization, and the two-phase clinical trial showed almost twice the cure rate compared to the existing treatment."
The Suturor has drawn attention as it has been listed in Group A (first-choice drug) as it is analyzed as a treatment that is highly effective and has lowered the death rate in the revision of the 2018 Multidrug-resistant Tuberculosis Guidelines announced by the WHO.
In addition, Deltiva is an action machine that shows the effects of sterilization by hindering the production of micolic acid, which forms the cell wall of tuberculosis bacteria, and shows strong sterilization effects.
In clinical trials conducted in nine countries around the world, the death rate was reduced in counties that have combined Deltiva for more than six months, showing improvement in long-term treatment effects.
An official of Korea Otsuka Pharmaceutical added, "We have determined that there are no safety and weakness problems as there are no existing serious side effects such as liver and kidney failure or mental symptoms."
The government is pushing for measures to strengthen preventive management for tuberculosis, and its goals for early eradication in 2030
In order to fight tuberculosis, the government has increased access to prevention and treatment, and strengthened financial support for senior citizens and vulnerable people who are at high risk of developing tuberculosis.
According to the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, in order to reduce the burden of tuberculosis for senior citizens, which is increasing due to the increase in base diseases, the government will strengthen its support for active early screening and thorough medication management in consideration of the characteristics of the high frequency of side effects during the treatment of asymptomatic tuberculosis.
To that end, it said it will strengthen the promotion of chest X-ray screening once a year for those aged 65 or older and deploy additional tuberculosis management personnel to health centers and medical institutions for 1:1 medication counseling to thoroughly manage patients.
It will also strengthen support for early detection and completion of treatment for socially and economically vulnerable groups such as beneficiaries of medical benefits, which are high-risk groups with tuberculosis.
"We will do our best to prevent tuberculosis early by 2030 by checking the finalized reinforcement measures through a public-private consultative body involving the pan-government and professional academia in 2020 so that they can be thoroughly implemented," said Jeong Eun-kyung, head of the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
A temporary 'stop' of domestic group activities related to tuberculosis - online activity margin
This year, as part of the "social distance" caused by the Corona 19 incident, various campaigns that were implemented every time on the occasion of Tuberculosis Day have been temporarily suspended.
Until now, related organizations, governments and organizations, including the Korea Tuberculosis Association, have held various public events.
For example, Korea Yansen and the Korea Tuberculosis Association have launched a "Lung Tree Campaign" to promote awareness of tuberculosis prevention to the public and correct information on tuberculosis since 2015.
Through this, the company held healing concerts for patients, preventive events for vulnerable people, and volunteer activities.
Every year, the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has prepared various activities by distributing promotional and educational materials such as anti-tuberculosis posters, calendars, pamphlets and webtoons.
An official from the Korea Tuberculosis Association said, "Since the spread of Corona 19 itself is burdensome, the event of Tuberculosis Day, such as the association and the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, will be held.
"It's all been skipped," he said. "We're going to do an online campaign with the stop-tb movement instead."
Meanwhile, World Tuberculosis Day was celebrated on March 24, 1882 by Dr. Robert Koch, a German physician and bacteriologist, who caused tuberculosis.
In 1982, 100 years after announcing the discovery, it was established under the joint auspices of the IUATLD and WHO to commemorate the discovery.
