Help stop the spread of TB – Timothy

Health Minister Julius Timothy
Health Minister Julius Timothy

Minister of Health Julius Timothy is calling on the public to help prevent the spread of tuberculosis (TB).

Dominica joined the rest of the International community to observe World TB Day on March 24, and according to  Timothy, the Ministry of Health has made significant strides in reducing the level of TB on the island.

TB is an infectious disease caused by bacteria called Mycobacterium tuberculosis, which most commonly affects the lungs. It is transmitted from person to person via droplets from the throat and lungs of people with the disease.

“The Ministry of Health is strongly committed to protecting the lives of all citizens from infectious diseases including TB. Through the effective delivery of best practices which includes prevention, diagnosing and treating, not only patients with TB and or TB/HIV but the families affected with challenges of these diseases. We have had some level of success,” he said.

He noted further that a robust approach has been employed in ensuring that all persons diagnosed with TB are monitored closely and that each case is assessed and managed with the highest quality of care.

“Health Care workers are committed to prevent the spread of TB by providing; continuous education to the public; conducting contact investigation and for providing Direct Observation Treatment (DOT) of patients” he said.

Timothy pointed out that having a regular check-up is one main way of preventing the spread of TB.

“In this regard we urge the public to do the following: know your HIV status ; Have your yearly check-up even if you are not ill; Maintain cough etiquette at all times; If you know of or think you know someone who has TB or is TB/HIV positive encourage them to seek medical care; Be a source of support to someone who needs it, don’t stigmatize and discriminate against people whom you think or know to be living with TB or TB/HIV,” he said.

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16 Comments

  1. Winnie
    March 27, 2013

    For a small and poor country, Dominicans are so hating. I want to puke, stop hating the Haitians. All those Dominican men calling the radio showing heir hatred for the Haitians are not complaining about the Spanish who may it them at risk for Aids.

    • Realist
      March 27, 2013

      It not about like and hate. Immigration is not a joke it is serious business and must be managed properly. In all civilised countries immigrants have to be medically screened prior to taking up residence in a country. It may sound rough, but Haiti does not have a primary heath care culture like Dominica or any of the OECS countries. As a result they do not give vaccines for conditions like TB.

      You have the guts to call dominica poor, yet you are condoning the unchecked illegal migration of thousands of unscreen haitians to burden the underfunded heath system of Dominica.

      Its people like you who are filled with self hatred. So much so that you are prepared to allow your children and grand children to suffer from the debilitating effects of unmanaged illegal migrant inflow. All this so as to give a hypocritically pious self image. What a self-serving and parochial outlook!

  2. Justice and Truth
    March 27, 2013

    There are some people who access DNO who appear not to know the difference from a sensible comment and a non-sensible one. It is as if they are “enthusiastic thumbs down crazy/mad”. Why do you give thumbs down when people comment sensibly? Do you have nothing good to do with your time?
    What type of mind do you possess? Are you not open to learning and the learning process? I suppose it depends on your type of mentality. Shape up! :twisted: :mrgreen:

    • March 29, 2013

      Justice and Truth March 27, 2013

      I prefer to get a thumbs down not knowing who gave it to me, rather you writing those rude, judgmental and disrespectful comments below my posts.

      You go after everyone who will not speak your foolish mind–what exactly is sensible and non sensible to you?

      If you cannot stand the stench, then don’t raise the flies.

  3. Jimi Hendrix
    March 26, 2013

    This is what bothers me about these politicians, what is cough etiquette to the averge man in Dominica? Tell the people to try to cough in a tissue, but if one is not available to cough in their elbow. That is much simpler language that any 5 year old can understand.

    Instead of making those statements on the air, it would be more effective to have the district nurse conduct educational sessions around the island.

  4. pingpong
    March 26, 2013

    what do you expect mr minister when you allowed haitians to come in without a proper medical certificate..
    it is your government that is responsoble for the

    • pingpong
      March 26, 2013

      should read, it is your government that is responsible for the TB outbreak

    • True or false.
      March 26, 2013

      The first post on this issue was not worthy of publication is appears as it was the truth and coming from a D/can foreign based epidemiologist they deleted as it is factual.China and south east Asia has the highest rate of TB in the world.

    • Winnie
      March 27, 2013

      Ignorant. You guys are so illiterate and ignorant. Dominicans are sounding so stupid calling the radio with their comments. I wish Barbados need to star asking medical test before giving Dominicans visa. I am sourly disappointed in the Dominicans who think like you.

  5. Justice and Truth
    March 26, 2013

    It is contagious. Therefore it is to be expected that others will fear being around those who contract these diseases. For TB, proper nutrition is required. Prevention is better than cure.
    God has blest every nation with certain fruits and vegetables, the produce of the land which are necessary for our well being. I often wonder how much do some people eat which will assist their health. I recognize that we could be negligent people which is a dangerous practice and will cause ill-health. It is my feeling that if we took care and in some cases better care of our health, we could live a very long life past 70, 80 or even 90 to over 100 years healthily. This is no joke. Few lived that long. We must live well. Eat and drink well nutritiously and get ample rest and sleep. Avoid too much anxiety and stress.
    As important, contributing factors to good health is having a happy disposition and love for one another as we worship God.
    Minister of Health, are nationals especially those who live in poverty receive adequate education on proper nutrition? Are they being told about the daily nutritional intake for good health?
    Breakfast, lunch and dinner are absolutely necessary. A proper breakfast as oatmeal, not merely cornflakes and the likes, those dry products and consistently so. They should drink a cup or glass of milk daily. I read that we should drink two glasses of milk daily.
    It is not how much we eat but what we eat for as the saying, too much of one thing is good for nothing. They should eat, moderately, bread, bananas, fruits in general such as citrus fruits and vegetables; avoid pop which has no nutritional value.
    For salad: cucumber, tomatoes, sweet peppers, lettuce. Other vegetables as cabbage and carrots. They should drink an ample amount of water daily.
    Proper grooming is necessary including keeping their surroundings clean. Surely, everyone should know that. If some are not aware of it, they should be educated accordingly by your staff.
    The government may not be able to afford the funds to print health brochures and mail them to every household. However, your staff should visit those areas and educate the people accordingly. Do not leave them to their own devices. You know, check up on them from time to time to ensure they are eating nutritiously. This would be helpful to avoid further tuberculosis.

    • March 26, 2013

      Justice And Truth, are you sure of what you are talking about?

      You see, all of what you stated makes no sense. You might be carrier of TB, and not know it, a person can have the dieses for many years, and not know it.

      One can have tuberculosis in the spinal column or exoskeleton and not know it. In such a case the carrier might even look ” slim” and fit, not until they begin to lose lots of weight: if the person visits with a doctor, and the doctor conduct some test to see what is in the person blood, only then it may be discovered.

      Such people does not even cough, so what nonsense are you talking: here some doctors when one visits with them they usually suggest that one take a TB, test to see if the person was exposed to TB.

      I know how to do the test, and determine the result, so all this crap you are talking about eating fruits are nothing more than rubbish!

      Francisco Etienne-Dods Telemaque

  6. March 25, 2013

    The Timothy’s and politicians such as him simply run off their mouth, however, in reality when they are through talking people are left more confused than prior to them opening their mouth! It is one thing to say help stop the spread of tuberculosis, however without detailing how to stop it what good is his concern.

    Although the diseases is not as common as in former years, it is easier said than done to stop the spread because there are people infected for practically all of their life and they are not aware that they have T. B., we know tuberculosis is an infectious, inflammatory, disease that is chronic in nature, and commonly affects the lungs; we term this type (pulmonary tuberculosis), although it may occur in almost any part of the body.

    The causative agent is the tubercle bacillus (Mycobacterium tuberculosis). Until recently, the only other mycobacteria thought to be pathogenic to humans were M. bovis, and M. avium. It is now known that other atypical mycobacteria can produce diseases similar to true tuberculosis including M. intracellulare, M. kansasii, M. simiae, and szulgai.

    So as for Timothy suggestion, not stating the measures one should take to stop the spread the T. B. is just another blowing in the wind sweet sounding nothing! We know the most common mode of transmission of tuberculosis is inhalation of infected droplet nuclei. In some parts of the world bovine tuberculosis, which is carried by unpasteurized milk, and other dairy products from tuberculous cattle, is more prevalent. A rare mode of transmission is by infected urine, especially for young children using the same toilet facilities.

    Since Timothy wants the public to help stop the spread of T. B., what plans does he have for doing something that will prevent adults sitting in a rum-shop from walking out and go to the side of the building pull out their pines and urinate even in public; be reminded the dieses is in the urine also!

    The tubercle bacillus is capable of surviving for months in dried sputum that is not exposed to sunlight. Within the body it can lie dormant for decades, and then become reactivated years after an initial infection. This secondary tuberculosis infection (endogenous reinfection) can occur at any time the patient’s resistance is lowered. For this reason, periodic evaluation for evidence of the disease is extremely important for anyone who has had a primary tuberculosis infection.

    I will cut it short by saying; the first or primary infection with tuberculosis bacilli usually presents no symptoms. In about ninety-nine (99%) per cent of those who are infected, the disease remains quiescent after the development of a hypersensitivity to the tuberculin microorganism, and is no longer clinically significant. I suspect Timothy knowledge of T. B. is just about people coughing and spiting blood, well that does not happen in every case, that is why people need to know what they are talking about before they sound off!

    Francisco Etienne-Dods Telemaque

    • Locust
      March 26, 2013

      If you are going to cut and paste information, make sure to cite the sources. We are not into plagerism here.

  7. lang dough
    March 25, 2013

    Allu bringing down thousands of unvaccinated illigal migrants from hispaniola, knowing pretty well that they harbour a dangerous strain of the TB virus.

    Now this crises is the result of unmanaged immigration. You now have an epidemic on your hands. Just imagine TB was wiped out of Dominica 30 years ago, now it is back thanks to the carelessness of the present government and the pasivity of its people.

    • Zebe Amere
      March 26, 2013

      I am in total agreement with you on this one.Have you ever heard of our governments past and present coming up with a medically acceptable plan to have would be immigrants to our shores medically checked before being given work permits/ residency status?

    • Justice and Truth
      March 27, 2013

      This makes excellent sense. As soon as they land in Dominica, those immigrants should be examined by a doctor for possible diseases as TB. Did the government ever thought of it?

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