Health Ministry mandates COVID screening for TB patients; issues guidelines

Union Health Ministry on Thursday mandated COVID screening for all diagnosed Tuberculosis (TB) patients and TB screening for all COVID-19 positive patients. The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW) issued a guidance note on bi-directional TB-COVID screening and screening of TB among influenza like illness (ILI) and severe acute respiratory infections (SARI) cases.

This decision comes as both TB and COVID-19 primarily attack the lungs, and the prevalence of TB among COVID-19 patients has been found to be 0.37 - 4.47 percent in different studies. A note further read that  there has been an overall decline in TB notification by 26 percent during January to June 2020 as compared to the previous year, due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

"Tuberculosis is associated with a 2.1-fold increased risk of severe COVID-19 disease. In addition, TB patients also tend to have co-morbid or living conditions (malnutrition, diabetes, smoking, HIV etc) that increase their vulnerability," the note said.

Based on the result of bi-directional TB-COVID screening, the management should be undertaken as per the MoHFW guidelines and the treatment of TB should continue uninterrupted. Further, all COVID-19 cases should be screened for TB symptoms using the 4-symptom complex (Cough for over 2 weeks, persistent fever for over 2 weeks, significant weight loss, night sweats), history of contact with TB case, history of TB and those symptomatic should be offered chest X-ray and upfront Nuclear Acid Amplification Test (NAAT)- CBNAAT/TrueNat) for diagnosis of TB.

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COVID in India 

Registering over 75,000 COVID-19 cases for the first time in a span of 24 hours, India's virus tally sprinted past 33 lakh on Thursday, while the number of recoveries crossed the 25 lakh mark, according to the Union Health Ministry data.  A record 75,760 infections were added in a day taking the total coronavirus caseload to 33,10,234. The death toll climbed to 60,472 with 1,023 fatalities being reported in 24 hours, the data updated at 8 am showed.

With a total of 25,23,771 patients having recuperated so far, the recovery rate was recorded at 76.24 per cent while the COVID-19 case fatality rate has declined to 1.83 per cent. There are 7,25,991 active cases of coronavirus infection in the country which comprises 21.93  per cent of the total caseload, the data stated.

India's COVID-19 tally had crossed the 20-lakh mark on August 7 and went past 30 lakh on August 23.  

(With inputs from ANI)

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