BMC launches screening drive to find latent TB infections

The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation BMC has launched a special project to find cases of latent tuberculosis TB infection in the city, it said on Thursday.Relatives and others who come in close contact with active TB patients would be screened during the campaign, the civic body said in a release.TB germs remain dormant or latent in the bodies of some people and they do not show symptoms immediately.

The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has launched a special project to find cases of latent tuberculosis (TB) infection in the city, it said on Thursday.

Relatives and others who come in close contact with active TB patients would be screened during the campaign, the civic body said in a release.

TB germs remain dormant or `latent' in the bodies of some people and they do not show symptoms immediately. But such persons are more likely to develop 'active tuberculosis' in future, the release said. The project will help achieve the Union government's ambitious target of making the country tuberculosis-free by 2025, it said.

Share India, an NGO, is going to set up a laboratory at the civic-run KEM Hospital for ''Interferon Gamma Release Assay'' test for detecting tuberculosis, the release added.