South Korea set to conduct free tests for latent TB
South Korea plans to carry out massive free tests for latent tuberculosis this year as part of efforts to cut the high incidence rate of the infectious disease in the country, officials said Wednesday (March 8).
Starting in April, some 600,000 high school freshmen, teachers and other school employees will be tested for latent TB -- a condition in which the TB bacteria is in the body but inactive with no symptoms, according to the Ministry of Health and Welfare.
TB patients are said to increase considerably around the age of
15. Without treatment, about 5 to 10 percent of latent TB
patients are known to develop TB at some time in their lives,
usually between 15 and 40.
About 850,000 South
Koreans aged 40 will also get tested for latent TB during their
annual mandatory medical checkups from July this year.
In
January, the ministry required all possible military conscripts
and employees of postpartum centers to receive a mandatory test
for latent TB. The compulsory tests will be expanded to workers
at daycare centers, hospitals and welfare facilities in March,
and to prison inmates in May.
The move comes as
South Korea has the highest prevalence rate of TB among members
of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.
The country had 63 patients per 100,000 people in 2015. Portugal
ranks second with 25 patients, followed by Poland with 21.
Yet
South Korea's TB incidence rate has been on the decline.
The
country's new TB patients stood at 32,181 in 2015, down 2,688
from the previous year.
In March last year, the
ministry unveiled a package of measures to counter TB, which
calls for lowering the country's incidence rate for the disease
to 12 patients per 100,000 people by 2025.
Source:
The Korea Herald
