Taipei residents at high risk of developing tuberculosis (TB) are to be eligible for a free screening test and a NT$200 cash gift this year, the Taipei Department of Health said yesterday, as it announced a drop in the incidence rate of the disease.
Taipei Disease Control Division head Chang Hui-mei (張惠美), citing Centers for Disease Control (CDC) data, said that 6,497 new cases of TB were reported nationwide last year, including 535 in Taipei.
The infectious disease can spread through the air by inhaling tiny particles containing the bacteria, Chang said.
Photo courtesy of the Taipei Department of Health
About 5 to 10 percent of the people who have been infected but have not yet experienced symptoms — latent TB infection (LTBI) — would develop active TB in their lifetime, she said.
People who experience a persistent cough that lasts more than two weeks and have other symptoms such as phlegm, chest pains, weight loss and loss of appetite should wear a mask and seek medical treatment as soon as possible, she said.
The WHO, which aims to eradicate the disease by 2035, has set the theme of this year’s World Tuberculosis Day on Sunday as “Yes! We Can End TB!” department Commissioner Chen Yen-yuan (陳彥元) said.
Through the efforts of medical and public health professionals and caregivers of the WHO’s recommended “directly observed treatment short-term” strategy, the incidence rate of TB in Taipei has fallen from 52.9 per 100,000 people in 2005 to 24 in 2020, beating the CDC’s goal of 25 by 2025, Chen said.
The incidence rate in 2022 dropped to 20.2, which is a reduction rate of 61.8 percent compared with 2005, he said.
To encourage people at high risk of developing active TB to be tested and receive early treatment, Taipei would offer them a free LTBI screening at one of 22 designated hospitals and a cash gift of NT$200, he said.
Eligible recipients are those undergoing chronic peritoneal dialysis or hemodialysis, people aged 45 or older who have diabetes with glycated hemoglobin level higher than 9 percent, those aged 60 or older with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), new immigrants, and people with pneumoconiosis, HIV/AIDS or a drug addiction, Chang said.
The risk of developing active TB increases by seven to 25 times among people undergoing dialysis compared with the general population, two to four times among those with diabetes and poor blood-sugar control, one to three times among those with COPD and 10 times among those with HIV/AIDS, said Yu Ming-chih (余明治), an attending physician in Taipei Municipal Wanfang Hospital’s Division of Pulmonary Medicine.
Between 2018 and last year, 10,873 Taipei residents from high-risk groups received an LTBI screening, with 1,197 of them testing positive and receiving treatment, the health department said.
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