Some 500 new cases of Tuberculosis (TB) were reported in the country last year, according to a senior official at the Hamad Medical Corporation (HMC).
However, the prevalence of TB among Qataris is very low due to a very strong national programme to control the infection, says Dr Abdullatif Al Khal, Deputy Chief Medical Officer and Head of Infectious Diseases at HMC.
“ Prevalence of TB among the Qataris is very low even compared to other GCC countries. A majority of those diagnosed with TB are workers from South Asian countries because they come from countries which have a high prevalence of the disease,” he said.
Under the Tuberculosis National Control Programme (TBNCP), any person exposed to someone infected with TB is tested for the infection and continuously monitored.
“In 2015, we screened 2,400 people who had close contacts with TB patients and ten percent of them were given preventive medicine,” said Dr Al Khal.
TB is a pulmonary contagious disease transmitted through the air. Once infected, the individual may transfer the disease to 10-15 people, and symptoms of the disease may not clearly appear on all TB infected patients due to the diffrences in the immunity system of each individual.
