NTEP Dimapur conducts active case-finding of TB

Dimapur, February 3 (MExN): Dimapur district’s National Tuberculosis Elimination Programme has been carrying out active case-finding of individuals affected by TB in the district.

Active case finding (ACF) is an activity to reach the unreached in a campaign mode to enhance TB case finding, according to a press release from the Media Officer NHM Dimapur. Under the leadership of DTO Dimapur Dr Benchilo Ngullie, vulnerable areas have been mapped and house to house case-finding activity is being carried out to screen for people having TB symptoms like cough, fever, sudden weight loss, night sweating, along with CBNAAT testing for early and definitive diagnosis of TB and rifampicin resistance.

ACF was conducted at Central Jail, Sub-jail, Ura Villa Colony, 4th to 6th Mile stone quarries, Day & Night Shelter Home, and Miqlat Ministry Center Singrijan. Three TB cases were detected during the ACF and have been initiated for treatment, the release stated.

Active case-finding is an activity carried out every year since 2017 and is an important complementary strategy to accelerate case detection to achieve the national goal to eliminate TB by 2025, the release stated. The activity is provider-initiated and systematic searching for TB in individuals who would not otherwise seek health services, and bringing them into care for diagnosis and treatment. The ACF strategy may be both economically and epidemiologically relevant and may bring down the level of transmission, it stated.