A top official of the Philippine Tuberculosis Society Inc. has sounded a "clarion call" for a defensive war against a new kind of disease that could be fought in the very near future.

Raul I.E. Manikan, executive director of the PTSI, told the newly-organized Local TB Advisory Board that this dreaded disease is the Multiple Drug-Resistant Tuberculosis, or MDR TB. The local TB Advisory Board is headed by Gov. George Arnaiz and Dumaguete Mayor Agustin Perdices, with heads of educational, religious, business and other institutions as members

"We see an emerging trend that will one day explode that is worse than the Aquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome," Manikan said.

The MDR TB, he said, is caused by poor compliance on the part of TB patients and the mutations of the TB bacteria.

TB patients are required to take daily medications for six months before they could be cured of the disease. Without government intervention, the six-month treatment could cost P230,000.

The government, however, in cooperation with some non-government organizations like the PTSI and the Tropical Disease Foundation, has been working overtime to overcome the 9,000 new cases of TB every year. "Unless stopped, MDR could expand at an exponential rate and we are not prepared for it-we have no solution for it," Manikan said.

Cases of MTR TB have already been recorded in Davao and Tuguegarao while suspected cases in Cebu, Panay and Bicol are being inventoried, Manikan added.

He admitted that he may be an alarmist, but said, he would be very happy to be proven wrong. "But I will be guilty if I didn't share this with you and I am proven right," he said.*AP

back to top