JEDDAH – A recently study revealed that Jeddah occupied the top place among the Kingdom's cities for new tuberculosis (TB) cases. The study on the highly contagious bacterial infection was conducted by a group of students and associate professors of the Faculty of Medicine at King Abdulaziz University here. Jeddah accounted for 28.9 percent of the total number of new TB cases discovered in the country. The study also shed light on the lack of education in society on the disease which kills thousands of people every year. Osama Samarqandi, a medical intern at King Abdulaziz University, told Saudi Gazette that the study required a lot of time and effort to complete. “The basic goal of the study was to disseminate awareness on the dangerous disease that society knows very little about – how it spread from person to person and methods of treatment. The level of awareness was higher among than men but more needs to be done to increase awareness,” he said. The impetus that gave Osama, his colleagues and professors a push to conduct the study is the highly contagious nature of the disease and the percentage of affliction in Jeddah. The study was published in the Saudi Journal of Internal Medicine. The number of new TB cases in the Kingdom in 2010 reached 4,294 with a ratio of 15.82 cases for every 100,000 people, with an increase of 0.26 for every 100,000 people in 2011. This increase was attributed to the continuous improvements in registering new cases and reporting them in the country's regions and governorates. The percentage of lung TB cases reached 69.61 while non-pulmonary TB cases reached 30.39 percent. Jeddah Governorate occupied first place in cases of affliction with pulmonary TB with 28.9 percent out of the total number of cases, followed by Riyadh with 28.6 percent, Makkah with 8 percent, Jazan with 6.9 percent and the Eastern Province with 5.3 percent. It is noteworthy that the Ministry of Health has provided free medical care for all TB patients including Saudis and expatriates until they are cured and rehabilitated to return to work and normal life. A large number of volunteers took part in the scientific research and study. They formed groups that collected data and information and tested people in malls, public areas and carried out field surveys. Other groups worked in clarifying and analyzing the questionnaires. 436 people took part in the questionnaire. 36 percent of the people did not know that TB affects the lungs. About 256 people forming 58.7 percent were females aged between 12 and 72 with the average age between 28 and 54. The majority were educated. Over half of those who answered the questionnaire denied that the disease is contagious while 47.4 percent were not aware that there is effective medicine for treating the disease. Tuberculosis is considered to be a dangerous infectious disease especially in less developed countries. It is a bacterial disease that is transmitted through the air. The germs come out from the respiratory tract of the afflicted person through sneezing, coughing, spitting, or even talking and are transmitted to a healthy person via the respiratory system. The symptoms of the disease do not necessarily appear in everyone who has been afflicted with it. The immune system kills or resists the bacteria that can remain dormant for years.
