The state launched a programme to offer free short-course therapy for the prevention oftuberculosisamong close contacts of patients with the bacterial infection.
The two drugs, which must be taken once a week for three months, reduce the risk of disease and help officials reduce the monitoring period from 180 days with conventional therapy although it costs ten times more than the conventional therapy.
The programme was launched by Health minister Ma Subramanian while releasing the state’s strategic plan 2.0 for the elimination of tuberculosis by 2025. The infectious disease that most often affects the lungs is caused by a type of bacteria. It spreads through the air when infected people cough, sneeze or spit.
So far, the state offered a drug that a patient relative must have every day for six months. Volunteers and healthcare workers found it tough to monitor them, and the high dropouts made preventive therapy ineffective.