By Rathindra Kuruwita

There is a trend among some Sri Lankan parents not to have their infants vaccinated and this could lead to disastrous consequences, officials from National Programme for Tuberculosis Control and Chest Diseases (NPTCCD) says.

In certain developed nations, some parents start vaccinating their children only after a year or so after they were born and Sri Lankan parents who find out about this on the Internet, had also started delaying vaccinations, the official said.

“Children from developed nations in North America and Europe are not exposed to the same level of communicable diseases as we do due to climatic and other factors. However, things are different in tropical countries and developing nations. Children, until they reach five, have very low immunity. They develop resistance to diseases after contracting them. When it comes to more serious diseases like tuberculosis, the question to consider is that do we give the children a vaccine or take the risk of letting them develop immunity by contracting the disease,” Dr. Mizaya Cader, team lead of the Planning, Monitoring, and Evaluation Unit at the NPTCCD said.

Dr. Cader said that vaccination had been a main reason for Sri Lanka’s good health indicators and tuberculosis among Sri Lankan children was very low. Only about 215 children contracted tuberculosis in Sri Lanka per year, she said.

Dr. Cader said in comparable countries between 5 to 15 percent of tuberculosis patients were children, but the number was only three percent in Sri Lanka.

“Our successful vaccination drive may be the main reason for this low number,” she said.

In 2023, there were 9,538 reported cases of tuberculosis in Sri Lanka, and in 2022 only about 8,500. Dr. Cader said in many parts of the world the number of reported tuberculosis patients had increased.

She said that was due to distractions during the Covid-19 pandemic. The economic crisis which led to a drop in nutritional levels might also have led to a drop in people’s immunity. This might be leading to higher cases of tuberculosis. About 25 percent of tuberculosis patients we come across have a low Body mass index.”

Moreover, those with diabetes, kidney diseases, cancers, and others with conditions and behaviours that reduce immunity are also prone to tuberculosis, she said.

Director of the NPTCCD, Dr. Pramitha Shanthilatha Rathnayake said that in 2022 there had been only about 8,500 cases,. The reported number for 2023 was close to the numbers detected in 2015, she added.

Consultant Respiratory Physician Dr. Neranjan Dissanayake, said that it was extremely important for people to know that they have tuberculosis and seek treatment. A tuberculosis patient who does not seek treatment, could at least spread the diseases among 12 people a year, on average, he said.

“Even when you take meds, you can spread it to others for about six weeks from the day you start taking the medicines. As long as you don’t take medicine, you will keep on spreading the diseases to others. Also, without treatment, 70 percent of people with tuberculosis in the lungs will die within two years.”

Dr. Dissanayake said there were about four main drugs used to treat tuberculosis. During the first two months, a patient is given all four drugs. In some countries there are variants that are resistant to these drugs.

However, luckily there are only a very limited number of cases of multidrug-resistant tuberculosis here, Dr. Dissanayake added. “These drugs are mild and even pregnant women can take them.”