Anja Madhwani was already sick When he gets out of the water in the middle of the desert. He traveled from the United Kingdom to run an ultramarata in Morocco in 2018, but it seemed that he could not retain enough food. I camped at night and had a fever. When he shouted, the blood came out.
Then the hallucination began. “I was alone in this extension of cooked land,” said Madhwani, now 35 years old. “I had a physical feeling that I was dying.” When the race is finally finished He returned to the United Kingdom, doctors said he had a fever and a chest infection.
Then, the radiographs and the Plekum tests confirmed that Madani I had tuberculosisIt was one of the 6.9 million people who found that year worldwide. Madhwani took 11 days in the isolation category A hospital and almost a year takes pills from the disease daily, and another year to feel itself again.
“The progress was very slow,” explains the event manager of the Leeds event. “I was walking inside me with this deadly thing. I don’t know anything … some of them will last a little more.” You often think about tuberculosis as a monument In the nineteenth century, when the deaths of the United Kingdom were believed to be the cause of the “Tysis”.
But this is still the world’s most deadly infection, and it is estimated that it will be killed 1.25 million people In 2023. Tuberculosis mainly affects Southeast Asian countries, Africa and western Pacific, which is often called “social disease” due to a close relationship with poverty.
After the slump During Govid -19 InfectionsWealthy countries like the United Kingdom are now uprising again Tuberculosis This is, according to experts, from others which are the canary in coal mining for other health problems related to social scarcity Infectious diseases for chronic conditions Like diabetes.
“Give it Tuberculosis Liverpool’s tropical medical school.
Increasing tuberculosis cases in the United Kingdom
The UK recorded 5,480 cases last year, And 13% In addition to an increase of 11% of the previous year than 2023, then the largest annual increase At least 1971. Spain, in the meantime, It has the event rate of tuberculosis This has been formed from 9,39 cases for 100,000 people in 2019 to 7,83 for 100,000 people in 2022
A clinic of East London is now more common that there are new cases of tuberculosis than any other place in Western Europe Center 4.63 million pounds (5.55 million euros) For patients with tuberculosis. Last year he treated 294 patients.
Tuberculosis is caused by a bacterium It can be hidden in the lungs for decades before it attacks the other parts of the body, especially the spine and brain. Currently vaccine helps to prevent disease among young children, but NotS.Useful For adults. Most of the new cases in the UK occurred among the diaspora, which may have suffered many years before they arrive.
But for the second consecutive year, tuberculosis cases in the UK have been on the rise among people born in the United Kingdom, since 2012, since 2012. Infections have increased in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.
The increase in cases may occur somewhat due to medical care interference during the Govid -19 infections, which means that the accumulation of tuberculosis infections is now diagnosed. This is a great increase These delays are just as part of the story.
There is a high risk of tuberculosis among homeless people that they are congestion, in prison, or infected with drugs or alcohol or malnutrition. By the end of 2024, only 13.1% of the 15 -year UK tuberculosis patients Or at least one social danger was announced, but due to lack of data, it could be sufficient number.
“We are well aware of where the increase comes from. Why is it still a mystery ”The Euronevs Health, the Executive Administrator of Tuberculosis, a non -profit organization dedicated to Tuberculosis in the United Kingdom and India, describes Paul Sommerfield.
How to fight tuberculosis
At the beginning of this month, the United Kingdom Health Protection Organization (UKHSA) He requested the opinion of experts in the updated five -year agenda to prevent tuberculosis in the UK, diagnose and better control.
AdvertisementCurrent plan will stop delays In the diagnosis of Madani, to ensure that most patients are completing their treatment, to undergo high tuberculosis diagnostic tests, and to ensure that health workers can diagnose symptoms. But it is not yet clear whether enough money will be allocated Sommerfield said how to raise awareness among the high -Risk communities for the new project, especially the signs, and how to access the medical service.
La Uxa Refused with questions about preferences Or the budget of the new project. In a statement sent to ‘Euroneus Health’, Dr. Esther Robinson, the head of the agency’s tuberculosis unit, described the “serious public health problem” and urged people to be tested if they prescribed symptoms, including continuous and cold cough.
There are some ideas for the Wingfield project. More detection tests must be done New immigrants who are in danger of contracting tuberculosis have suggested that companies that hire foreigners help fund the project. He also wants the government to collect more information on the social and economic problems of tuberculosis patients and contact homes, food banks and other services.
In the United Kingdom, many Doctors who specialize in tuberculosis “They have paid them from their shirt bag to someone who attended to get food and pay the bus … or because they are in a disadvantaged situation,” Wingfield explained.
AdvertisementIn the meantime, Madhwani pointed out the lakes in support of patients’ mental health Tuberculosis, especially after treatment. “I don’t think the computer understands how terrifying it is and lonely, especially when you finish the treatment and throw you into the world. No more followed,” he says.
Identify tuberculosis to facilitate treatment
What is a positive feature, some British patients They have anti -tuberculosis forms For drugs, it is difficult and expensive. Pharmaceutical resistance in countries that have difficulty accessing medical service or interrupting treatment at an early stage causes a major problem. Drugs sometimes cause painful side effects, and People have to take them Every day from four to nine months.
“We have a good system to treat tuberculosis, but this is one thing to treat people right soon,” says Sommerfield. Some of the affected people will never develop the disease. But Eradication of infections at an early stage For patients like Madhwani.
He does not know how he signed a tuberculosis. But before his diagnosis, Unknowingly influenced his partnerFriends, family and colleagues. Most people do not develop the disease, but their mother continues to fight against health problems after seven years. Another person infected with Madhwani had a hidden tuberculosis, but still had no illness. Doctors prescribed the drug to avoid the disease, but stopped taking it early.
AdvertisementMany years later, “he sent me a photo of his hospital, Democrat … and It is more sick than I have never been“Matwani says. His reaction was angry because the tuberculosis was not taken seriously.” I don’t think people will understand what will happen to you if you don’t heal, ”he says. If you have traveled, it is not important that you are rich. If you are in contact with her, you’re in danger.”
