Early initiation of treatment for tuberculosis is the key to successful recovery.
Tuberculosis is an infectious bacterial disease caused by Mycobacterium tuberculosis, which most commonly affects the lungs. The disease is transmitted by airborne droplets from a person with an active respiratory form to a person.
As the doctors of the Lung Health Center point out, it is wrong to think that this disease can mostly concern socially vulnerable population groups, since their share among all those diagnosed with TB is only 8-10%. Just like the “incurability” of a disease or the need for long-term treatment in a hospital is a stereotype today.
“The approach to the treatment of tuberculosis – from inpatient to outpatient – changed in Ukraine in 2020 as part of the medical reform. Therefore, today the need to hospitalize the patient arises only during the appearance of certain specific clinical reasons and for patients with bacterial excretion in the first 2-3 weeks from the start of treatment due to the impossibility of providing effective and safe treatment in outpatient settings. That is, patients with tuberculosis are treated in a hospital for 2 weeks, then on an outpatient basis. This allows the patient to be close to his family, instead of lying in the hospital for months, and in some cases, even to continue working, to live a socially active life. After starting an effective regimen of chemotherapy, the patient does not pose a threat to other people and ceases to be contagious to those around him in a few days,” said Nataliya Bagrylo, head of the phthisiatric department of the Lung Health Center.
Without delay, immediately consult a doctor at the first symptoms of the disease. Namely: cough for more than 2 weeks, elevated body temperature for more than 7 days, difficulty breathing, chest pain, poor appetite, constant weakness, unexplained weight loss, increased sweating, especially at night, hemoptysis.
Early initiation of treatment for tuberculosis is the key to successful recovery. The Lung Health Center emphasizes that tuberculosis treatment in Ukraine is free. The patient receives TB drugs at the place of treatment.