EDITORIAL – Killer disease

In 1944 tuberculosis claimed the life of Manuel L. Quezon, president of the Philippine Commonwealth. His death focused attention on a debilitating disease that kills an estimated three million people around the world. A hospital specializing in the treatment of tuberculosis was set up in a grassy district that would later be named after Quezon. Since his death in New York new treatments have been developed to fight TB, the latest of which is a cocktail of drugs that has reduced the death toll from what was once one of the deadliest diseases in the world.

Despite the availability of effective treatments, however, TB remains the sixth killer disease in the Philippines, according to the Department of Health. DOH figures show that 28,000 Filipinos died of TB in 1998 alone. The figure rose to 51,000 in 2000, according to a study funded by the US Agency for International Development. The Philippine Tuberculosis Initiatives for the Private Sector, in a statement this week, estimated that the country loses up to P27 billion in potential income each year due to tuberculosis.

The communicable disease can affect any organ but often invades the respiratory system. Those afflicted are often too weak to work; treatment can last up to two years. Impoverished patients often cannot sustain the treatment; they account for a big percentage of TB fatalities. Many poor victims also cannot afford to be isolated from their families, thus exposing even children to infection.

The USAID study, released this week, should remind the government about this disease that zaps productivity and continues to claim lives. A disease that can kill 51,000 Filipinos in just one year is cause for alarm. The government, with the help of the private sector, must undertake a more aggressive campaign to fight tuberculosis.