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Here is a fact: Anyone can get Tuberculosis (TB).
It knows no borders, and many people around the world are still suffering from TB. With 1.3 million deaths annually, TB remains one of the leading causes of mortality worldwide. In the Philippines, TB is still a life-threatening problem.
Here’s another fact: TB is curable and preventable.
Active, drug-susceptible TB disease is treated with a standard 6-month course of antimicrobial drugs that are provided with information and support to the patient by a health worker or trained volunteer. Without such support, treatment adherence is more difficult. However, the successful arrest or cure of TB depends largely on an early diagnosis and proper treatment. If the diagnosis can be made during this early, curable stage and proper treatment started, the patient has big chance of a permanent cure or, at least, of an arrest of the disease.
This four-part story highlights the personal experience of a person who was diagnosed and currently undergoing treatment for TB disease. Her name is Ivy*. At the age 27, Ivy would have never guessed how much her life would turn around because of TB. But through her story, she also hopes to raise awareness about the disease and seek support for People with TB (PwTBs), which give them the confidence that they could fight through this.
As a young homemaker, Ivy’s attention was on her family. She has a simple life with her 4 young children and her live-in partner. However last February 2020, Ivy’s lung illness began with just a cough and fever that became constant over time. Though she believes she might have inherited her poor lung condition (her grandfather died of TB), she does not recall ever being exposed to anyone with TB disease. She admitted: It was when she began coughing up sputum with blood that made her very alarmed. Yet she’s reluctant as well to know exactly what she’s suffering from.
Two months after, the 27-year-old housewife experienced the same symptoms again. However, due to the COVID-19 pandemic and community lockdown, Ivy wasn’t able to see to a physician for consultation. She then sought medical attention to an online doctor. The doctor told her she was acidic and was advised to take antacid.
In mid-2020, Ivy came down with a difficulty in breathing and a worsen hemoptysis and was told at a community clinic to undergo blood work and x-ray. She was then prescribed to take amoxiclab for a week.
“I took the antibiotics I was given but felt no better,” she said.
A week after, Ivy headed to the city hospital for the reading of her tests and was told by a pulmonary doctor that her upper right lung has respiratory disease: Pulmonary-TB.
Though frightened, Ivy was also relieved when she was told she has drug-susceptible TB, because she finally knew what was wrong with her and that it could be cured.
“The good news is that once you get a correct diagnosis and get on the right treatment, you will start to get better,” she said.
Currently, Ivy is on her antibiotics for six months.
This series/story is a part of the #TBFreePH campaign, the official TB health promotion and communication strategy of the Department of Health which aims to help the National TB Control Program (NTP) in finding and treating 2.5 million Filipinos with TB by 2022. With the support of the US Agency for International Development (USAID) and other development partners, #TBFreePH hopes to convince more Filipinos in knowing their TB status, and getting tested and treated for TB. Follow #TBFreePH on https://www.facebook.com/TBFreePH.
*Name has been changed at the patient’s request
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