<TABLE border=0 cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%"><TBODY><TR>More TB patients fail to complete treatment
</TR><!-- headline one : end --><TR>Number of patients forced, under rarely used law, to continue treatment doubled last year </TR><!-- Author --><TR><TD class="padlrt8 georgia11 darkgrey bold" colSpan=2>By April Chong
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TB patients who persistently abandon treatment can be forced, under the Infectious Diseases Act, to be treated and even detained at the Communicable Disease Centre's TB ward. Those detained are not allowed to leave for six to nine months until treatment is complete. -- ST PHOTO: NURIA LING
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<!-- START OF : div id="storytext"--><!-- more than 4 paragraphs -->A RARELY used power that allows health workers to force a tuberculosis (TB) patient to stay in hospital for treatment was invoked 10 times last year - more than doubling from the year before.
The number of TB patients compelled under the same law to go to a polyclinic regularly for their medication also more than doubled - from 21 in 2007 to 53 last year.
<TABLE width=200 align=left valign="top"><TBODY><TR><TD class=padr8><!-- Vodcast --><!-- Background Story --><STYLE type=text/css> #related .quote {background-color:#E7F7FF; padding:8px;margin:0px 0px 5px 0px;} #related .quote .headline {font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size:10px;font-weight:bold; border-bottom:3px double #007BFF; color:#036; text-transform:uppercase; padding-bottom:5px;} #related .quote .text {font-size:11px;color:#036;padding:5px 0px;} </STYLE>POTENTIALLY EXPLOSIVE
'Call it what you may - a time bomb or a powder keg...Any way you look at it, this is a potentially explosive situation.' Dr Margaret Chan, WHO chief, at a meeting for countries with high MDR-TB burden last month
What is tuberculosis?
Tuberculosis is caused by a bacterium which affects the lungs and also the circulatory and central nervous systems.
The disease is spread by prolonged contact with infectious people, through the droplets they exhale.
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ALARMING SPIKE
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</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>More patients are defaulting on their treatment, a trend which Dr Wang Yee Tang, director of the Tuberculosis Control Unit at Tan Tock Seng Hospital, has called 'alarming'.
Patients who do not complete their treatment may suffer a relapse or develop the more serious form of drug-resistant TB.
Worse still, such patients continue to spread the disease in the community and other people suffer for their non-compliance, said Dr Wang.
The spike in the number of patients skipping treatment also comes against a backdrop of rising TB infections.
There were 1,451 TB cases here last year, up from the 1,256 in the previous year. Last year's figure was also a 10-year high.
Last month, the World Health Organisation (WHO) also warned of an ominous rise in multidrug-resistant TB (MDR-TB), which cannot be treated with conventional first-line drugs.
In 2007, there were more than half a million new cases of MDR-TB worldwide, up from 424,000 cases in 2004.
The drug-resistant illness is still rare in Singapore - with four cases each last year and the year before - but this could change if people do not complete their treatment, said Dr Wang.
Though it is not known why so many defaulted last year, Dr Wang thinks mounting economic woes may have led patients to neglect their health for other problems.
If so, this might mean that the situation could worsen this year as the recession deepens.
TB patients who persistently abandon treatment can be forced, under the Infectious Diseases Act, to be treated and even detained at the Communicable Disease Centre (CDC).
A recalcitrant patient can face a fine of up to $10,000 or a jail term of six months, or both, in the first instance.
So far, the Health Ministry has yet to invoke the penalty on any offender, said the ministry's spokesman.
Patients detained in the CDC are not allowed to leave the TB ward for six to nine months, until treatment is complete.
They share the 20-bed ward with other TB patients, usually the elderly who have no family support and cannot go to polyclinics by themselves.
The TB scourge, which many thought had been laid to rest in the 1970s, began resurging worldwide in the late 1980s because of the HIV epidemic, and now presents a serious public health problem.
WHO chief, Dr Margaret Chan, said at a meeting for countries with high MDR-TB burden last month: 'The situation is already alarming, and it is poised to grow much worse, very quickly.
'Call it what you may - a time bomb or a powder keg...Any way you look at it, this is a potentially explosive situation.'
The number of MDR-TB cases will go up, cautioned Dr Wang, as Singapore is not only surrounded by countries battling MDR-TB, but is also an open economy with an influx of thousands of foreign workers.
The only way to keep TB at bay is to make sure it is treated from the onset and that patients stick to the regime, he said. [email protected]
</TR><!-- headline one : end --><TR>Number of patients forced, under rarely used law, to continue treatment doubled last year </TR><!-- Author --><TR><TD class="padlrt8 georgia11 darkgrey bold" colSpan=2>By April Chong
</TD></TR><!-- show image if available --><TR vAlign=bottom><TD width=330>
</TD><TD width=10>
TB patients who persistently abandon treatment can be forced, under the Infectious Diseases Act, to be treated and even detained at the Communicable Disease Centre's TB ward. Those detained are not allowed to leave for six to nine months until treatment is complete. -- ST PHOTO: NURIA LING
</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
<!-- START OF : div id="storytext"--><!-- more than 4 paragraphs -->A RARELY used power that allows health workers to force a tuberculosis (TB) patient to stay in hospital for treatment was invoked 10 times last year - more than doubling from the year before.
The number of TB patients compelled under the same law to go to a polyclinic regularly for their medication also more than doubled - from 21 in 2007 to 53 last year.
<TABLE width=200 align=left valign="top"><TBODY><TR><TD class=padr8><!-- Vodcast --><!-- Background Story --><STYLE type=text/css> #related .quote {background-color:#E7F7FF; padding:8px;margin:0px 0px 5px 0px;} #related .quote .headline {font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size:10px;font-weight:bold; border-bottom:3px double #007BFF; color:#036; text-transform:uppercase; padding-bottom:5px;} #related .quote .text {font-size:11px;color:#036;padding:5px 0px;} </STYLE>POTENTIALLY EXPLOSIVE
'Call it what you may - a time bomb or a powder keg...Any way you look at it, this is a potentially explosive situation.' Dr Margaret Chan, WHO chief, at a meeting for countries with high MDR-TB burden last month
What is tuberculosis?
Tuberculosis is caused by a bacterium which affects the lungs and also the circulatory and central nervous systems.
The disease is spread by prolonged contact with infectious people, through the droplets they exhale.
RELATED LINKS
<!-- Audio --><!-- Video --><!-- PDF -->
<!-- Photo Gallery -->
</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>More patients are defaulting on their treatment, a trend which Dr Wang Yee Tang, director of the Tuberculosis Control Unit at Tan Tock Seng Hospital, has called 'alarming'.
Patients who do not complete their treatment may suffer a relapse or develop the more serious form of drug-resistant TB.
Worse still, such patients continue to spread the disease in the community and other people suffer for their non-compliance, said Dr Wang.
The spike in the number of patients skipping treatment also comes against a backdrop of rising TB infections.
There were 1,451 TB cases here last year, up from the 1,256 in the previous year. Last year's figure was also a 10-year high.
Last month, the World Health Organisation (WHO) also warned of an ominous rise in multidrug-resistant TB (MDR-TB), which cannot be treated with conventional first-line drugs.
In 2007, there were more than half a million new cases of MDR-TB worldwide, up from 424,000 cases in 2004.
The drug-resistant illness is still rare in Singapore - with four cases each last year and the year before - but this could change if people do not complete their treatment, said Dr Wang.
Though it is not known why so many defaulted last year, Dr Wang thinks mounting economic woes may have led patients to neglect their health for other problems.
If so, this might mean that the situation could worsen this year as the recession deepens.
TB patients who persistently abandon treatment can be forced, under the Infectious Diseases Act, to be treated and even detained at the Communicable Disease Centre (CDC).
A recalcitrant patient can face a fine of up to $10,000 or a jail term of six months, or both, in the first instance.
So far, the Health Ministry has yet to invoke the penalty on any offender, said the ministry's spokesman.
Patients detained in the CDC are not allowed to leave the TB ward for six to nine months, until treatment is complete.
They share the 20-bed ward with other TB patients, usually the elderly who have no family support and cannot go to polyclinics by themselves.
The TB scourge, which many thought had been laid to rest in the 1970s, began resurging worldwide in the late 1980s because of the HIV epidemic, and now presents a serious public health problem.
WHO chief, Dr Margaret Chan, said at a meeting for countries with high MDR-TB burden last month: 'The situation is already alarming, and it is poised to grow much worse, very quickly.
'Call it what you may - a time bomb or a powder keg...Any way you look at it, this is a potentially explosive situation.'
The number of MDR-TB cases will go up, cautioned Dr Wang, as Singapore is not only surrounded by countries battling MDR-TB, but is also an open economy with an influx of thousands of foreign workers.
The only way to keep TB at bay is to make sure it is treated from the onset and that patients stick to the regime, he said. [email protected]
