Tuberculosis (TB) prevention and control

(chinadaily.com.cn)

Updated: 2014-06-03

TB diagnosis and detection

The main inspection items for TB include sputum smear and x-ray chest radiography. A sputum culture and drug susceptibility tests can be performed if needed.

TB treatment

Once diagnosed with TB, patients should immediately take multiple drugs regularly and stick to treatment (six months for initial treatment and eight months for retreatment). Any changes in treatment should be decided by doctors.

Multi-drug-resistant TB treatment requires the concurrent use of four to five effective anti-TB drugs, and dosage varies with patient weight. According to the World Health Organization's guidelines, the whole treatment cycle is 24 months, consisting of 6-month injection and 18-month non-injection periods.

Free policies for some items of TB detection and treatment at State-assigned medical institutions

Free projects

Suspicious patients can receive free sputum smears (three samples) for one time and a general x-ray chest radiography. Active TB patients get free anti-TB drugs in the national program, three or four sputum smears (two samples each time), and a general x-ray chest radiography at the end of the therapy (both initial treatment and retreatment).

In areas covered by global funds, multi-drug-resistant TB patients can get free second-line anti-TB drugs and related inspections. In areas covered by the joint TB prevention and treatment project by China’s Ministry of Health and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, multi-drug-resistant TB patients will have a large part of medical expenses covered and only need to pay for a small portion.

Free services

Patients can enjoy free TB-related services at national TB prevention and treatment institutes, such as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, TB prevention and control stations, and State-assigned medical facilities.