Lesson Seventeen: Tuberculosis (Prevention, Control and Treatment)

• Outcome
• Starter activity (10 minutes)
• Main activity (15 minutes)
• Symptoms of Lung tuberculosis
• Treatment of Lung tuberculosis
• Concluding activity (10 minutes)
• Assessment/ Evaluation questions
• Project

Outcome

• Explain how Mycobacterium tuberculosis spread from an infected person to health person.
• Identify the Symptoms of lung tuberculosis.
• Discuss the methods of prevention and control of Mycobacterium tuberculosis.
• Discuss the method of treatment of patients with lung tuberculosis.

This lesson may be conducted either by guest health worker or classroom teacher. If there is a volunteer guest health worker from local health centre:

• It is recommended to invite guests (nurses or health officers) to teach this topic.
• The lesson should be assisted with posters, demonstrations, models etc.

N.B: If a guest is not in a position to come to school, the teacher may arrange visits to the local health station where the health officer/nurse is working after taking appointment with him/her.  If conditions do not allow invitation of a guest, the classroom teacher has to conduct the lesson Teaching Methods for classroom teacher.
Group work/activity, short lecture, project work:

Starter activity (10 minutes)

Ask students their prior knowledge concerning tuberculosis. Use posters when appropriate.

• Have you ever heard of lung tuberculosis?
• What is lung Tuberculosis?
• What do you know about lung tuberculosis? Does it have treatment?

Let the teacher organize students into small groups as usual. The students should list down what they know about lung tuberculosis. The teacher should closely supervise each group while the discussion is going on. Responses from students may be expected as follows.

Lung tuberculosis is a disease caused by pathogenic bacteria known as Mycobacterium tuberculosis. It is contagious (passes from person to person easily).  It usually attacks the lungs, but may also infect any other organ of the body. Among infectious diseases, tuberculosis is the single most common killer of adults in the world today. The symptoms of lung tuberculosis include prolonged cough, weakness, sputum with blood, loss of weight, loss of appetite, chills, and sweating etc.

Main Activity (15 minutes)

How does someone get lung tuberculosis?

Lung tuberculosis is transmitted from the infected person to healthy one by droplet infection. This happens when the infected individuals breathe out; the bacteria would be released along with water droplets into the atmosphere. Then, individuals found closer to the infected persons would inhale the air contaminated with the bacterium. Individuals with weak immunity are infected easily than those with strong immune system.

After the lungs are infected with the bacteria, the immune system begins to react. The macrophage cells begin to surround the bacteria forming a barrier or wall so that the bacteria cannot continue to spread. If the macrophage cells are successful at stopping the bacteria from spreading the bacteria will become dormant.  At this point the bacteria become inactive, but are still alive in the body waiting for the immune system to weaken to become active again.

Symptoms of Lung tuberculosis

Tuberculosis in the lungs may cause symptoms such as: 

• A severe cough that lasts three weeks or longer.
• Pain in the chest.
• Coughing up sputum with blood (phlegm from deep inside the lungs).

Other symptoms of active tuberculosis include weakness or fatigue, weight loss, loss of appetite, chills, fever, etc.  

Treatment of Lung tuberculosis

People who have lung tuberculosis must be treated promptly. Curing them is the best way of preventing the disease from spreading. This helps to eliminate the source of infection.

• Give BCG vaccination to all babies at birth or soon after birth, and to other children before tuberculosis strikes them.
• As soon as any person shows signs of having lung tuberculosis, report to the health centre or hospitals so that suspected individuals can be examined and treated. If treatment is given, the patients will be cured.
• Treatment should be fully supervised by a health care provider.
• At least during the first 2 months of treatment, patients should receive their daily medication under the supervision of a health care provider.
• During the next 4 - 6 months, they must visit the health centre every month to receive a supply of drugs.
• There is a need to cover our mouth when coughing and nose when sneezing to prevent the spread of the bacteria which causes the disease.
• It is recommended not to spit everywhere on the ground.
• It is recommended to avoid sleeping in overcrowded rooms.
• Infected persons need to be identified as soon as possible so that they can be isolated from others and treated.

Concluding activity (10 minutes)

The teacher is required to summarize the lesson by jotting down major points. He/she may allow for students to summarize the lesson. During concluding activity, the teacher should pose the magnitude of health problems associated with lung tuberculosis in our country.  

Assessment / Evaluation questions

1. How do people get infected with Mycobacterium tuberculosis?
2. What are some of the symptoms of tuberculosis?
3. Is it possible to control the spread of lung tuberculosis? List the methods of control of lung tuberculosis

Project

Let the students gather information about the use and misuse of antibiotics from nearby health centers with respect to the control effort of lung tuberculosis. As long as tuberculosis is the main killer disease in our country, students should be acquainted with the knowledge of the correct use of antibiotics. They should summarize the results of their survey and report their findings to class.