DOTS create picture of health

Next Monday is World Tuberculosis (TB) Day 2008 and Hunter New England Health is highlighting its successful contribution to a worldwide campaign to stop TB.

TB is a contagious disease that, like other chest infections, spreads through the air when people with active lung disease cough. 

Globally, TB remains a massive public health problem with nearly nine million new cases and more than 1.5 million deaths each year. 

Head of Respiratory Medicine at John Hunter Hospital Professor Michael Hensley said that in Australia it’s a very different story, with low TB rates and excellent treatment outcomes

“Thanks to good access to diagnosis and treatment, Australia has one of the lowest rates of TB in the world with between five and six cases per 100,000 people each year,” Professor Hensley said.

Hunter New England Health uses Directly Observed Therapy Short-course (DOTS) treatment, an internationally recognised program that provides support to patients undergoing TB treatment – a process that takes a minimum of six months.

Professor Hensley said the program involves nurses visiting patients in their homes and observing them while they take their medications.

“The objective of DOTS is to ensure people complete their treatment and, at the same time, quickly identify and manage any side effects which, if left untreated, could harm the patient and lead to drug resistance,” Professor Hensley said.

“We have respiratory nurses working out of John Hunter, Taree and Tamworth hospitals, and our community nurses visit those people who live further away.”

This year marks 40 years of the DOTS program in the Hunter New England Health region.

“DOTS has been a great success with more than 1000 patients treated and only one of whom developed TB again,” Professor Hensley said.

“Although TB is now very uncommon in Australia, it still exacts an enormous toll in the Western Pacific Region. 

“We will not be able to claim success against TB, until all countries enjoy similar low rates of TB.”

Contact: Gemma Smith

Phone: 4921 4501