DATE=3/24/02

TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT

TITLE=CQ INDIA/T-B DAY (L-O)

NUMBER=2-287927

BYLINE=JESSICA BERMAN

DATELINE=WASHINGTON

CONTENT=

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INTRO: Tuberculosis is a killer of major proportions, claiming the lives of about two-million people each year. But on World T-B day (3/24), public health officials say the disease is almost entirely curable with the right treatment. They point to stepped-up eradication efforts in India. V-O-A'S Jessica Berman reports.

TEXT: Approximately one-third of the world's population is infected with the tuberculosis bacterium. And many of those individuals live in India, a country of one-billion people.

Lorna Thorpe is an analyst with the U-S Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, Georgia. Ms. Thorpe has worked closely with the Indian government to assess the effectiveness of its efforts to eliminate tuberculosis.

/// THORPE ACT ///

There are more T-B cases in India than in any other country in the world. And their incidence is on the level of 200 new cases for every 100-thousand persons. And just to put that in perspective, here in the United States, we have less than six cases per every 100-thousand persons. So, they have a lot of T-B, and it is a tremendous burden to the young, healthy, adult population, and that's usually the most productive sector of society.

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Four-years ago, the Indian government decided to make an intensive effort to dramatically reduce the number of T-B cases. As part of the program, public health workers began visiting people infected with tuberculosis and making sure they took their antibiotics, a protocol known as "directly observed therapy."

Ms. Thorpe says the measures have had a dramatic effect.

/// THORPE ACT ///

The overall treatment success is over 80-percent, which is what the W-H-O sets as a target for a successful and functioning T-B control program. Death rates used to be up to 29, 30-percent in some areas. Now, we are seeing death rates in some areas on average of four-percent.

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While the news is encouraging in India, the World Health Organization says much work still needs to be done. W-H-O said inexpensive and curative antibiotics are reaching only 27-percent of the world's T-B patients. (SIGNED)

NEB/JB/RAE