John Bingham wrote: ↑Thu Jan 27, 2022 11:21 am More people die of heart attacks, therefore we shouldn't care about road safety.

I’m not saying we should ignore one problem because another causes more deaths. I’m saying that some people need to look at the big picture instead of acting as if covid is the only thing that any of us should be worried about.

A timely discussion on TB:

Over 300 Cambodian migrant workers returned from Thailand during pandemic positive for tuberculosis
26 January 2022 12:54 PM
Khy Sovuthy
From January 2020 to November 2021, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) screened 15,034 migrant workers in Cambodia for tuberculosis. It found that only 1,519 had tested for the disease, of which 342—including 166 women—tested positive and were referred to health centers for treatment.

Dum Chanthida, the national project officer of IOM in Cambodia, told CamboJA that of the total number of migrants screened, 2,271 were found to have presumptive tuberculosis – of that number, 2,027 migrants received the CXR examination while 1,519 tested with Gene Xpert.

She said that tuberculosis is one of ten dangerous diseases that imply fatal risks for patients if left untreated. “If any patients [of TB] do not go to hospital for treatment, they will face [the possibility of] death,” she said.

Inactive tuberculosis carries a low rate of infection. But if patients exhibit symptoms like cough and chest pains and do not seek treatment, the rate of infection can be high, especially among those living together in the same household. At the same time, Chanthida encouraged people not to fear the disease, as recovery is possible with treatment.

She added that tuberculosis patients often complain about the long period of treatment, which can take six months, and the side effects of medication. “So some patients abandon treatment medicine, as when they took it for the first time, they were not encouraged.”

The IOM’s tuberculosis screening of migrant workers began prior to 2012, when a working group’s research revealed that most Cambodian migrant workers who worked illegally in Thailand were met with difficult and insecure situations, which affected their health. However, the screening project was suspended soon after due to a lack of donor funds – until the end of 2020, when the pandemic eased and the project could restart again, with new funding.

The IOM has appealed to its partner NGOs to expand the project to other provinces along the Thai-Cambodian border, but funds remain limited. “For the tuberculosis project to support migrants from 2022 to 2024, we still only work in Banteay Meanchey province and we cannot expand to other provinces,” Chanthida said.
An IOM officer interviews returned Cambodian migrant workers during district operations in Poipet city of Banteay Meanchey province, December 2021. Supplied

Ms Saveth, a 38-year-old migrant worker who lives in Banteay Meanchey province’s Mongkol Borei district, said that she tested positive for tuberculosis nearly three months ago, after she and her husband returned from Thailand at the end of 2020.

“The reason that I allowed health officials to test me to find TB was because I always had pain in my chest and a sweaty back, and I was coughing sometimes. I bought medicine to swallow but I did not recover,” she said.

While toiling as a construction worker in Thailand for two years, she started to feel chest pains and self-medicated, which stopped the pain for a short time before it started again. She said she experienced side effects but continued with the medication as she wanted badly to recover.

During that time, she kept a distance from her family, eating food and using utensils separately because she was afraid of infecting them with the disease. Her husband and three children have not yet tested for tuberculosis and do not take preventive medicine.

She said, “I requested the government and NGOs for help to provide some budget to support TB patients, because we do not do any heavy work.” They could not perform manual labor as usual due to feeling weaker, which meant that they could not earn enough to support their families.

Phal Vimean, an IOM official in Banteay Meanchey, said that the project covered Cambodian migrant workers who returned through checkpoints in Banteay Meanchey, and that most who tested positive for tuberculosis were construction workers.

“Sometimes, they work over time and don’t eat enough and they get weakened and are easily infected with tuberculosis. On the other hand, they absorb a lot of dust at their construction sites,” Vimean explained.

At first, the IOM cooperated with provincial health officials to test migrant workers at the O’Bei Choan and international Poipet checkpoints, but that changed when those workers tested positive with COVID-19 and had to be quarantined. “We changed our strategy to go and screen them in their community after they finished quarantining,” he said.

He also said that when migrant workers tested positive for tuberculosis in other provinces, health officials would issue a doctor’s letter for them to receive treatment in their hometown. Most migrant workers who cross the checkpoints in Banteay Meanchey include not just those from that province, but also those from Siem Reap, Kampong Thom, and Battambang.

“TB prevention is similar to COVID-19 prevention. They must wear masks, keep distancing, and disinfect with alcohol,” said Vimean.
https://cambojanews.com/over-300-cambod ... erculosis/

Ryan754326 wrote: ↑Thu Jan 27, 2022 1:11 pm

John Bingham wrote: ↑Thu Jan 27, 2022 11:21 am More people die of heart attacks, therefore we shouldn't care about road safety.

I’m not saying we should ignore one problem because another causes more deaths. I’m saying that some people need to look at the big picture instead of acting as if covid is the only thing that any of us should be worried about.

I for one hear your call to action, and from now on will start looking both ways before I cross the road.

There is another connection between covid and road safety, in that public discourse about covid prevention measures bears a lot of similarity with those of the original seatbelt mandates (and then again about speed limits, safe headlight design, speed cameras, etc)

Heart disease (100s of years) and road traffic accidents (80?) have been happening for a very long time. Covid deaths started 2 years ago.

Silly comparison.

CEOCambodiaNews wrote: ↑Thu Jan 27, 2022 6:57 pm A timely discussion on TB:

Over 300 Cambodian migrant workers returned from Thailand during pandemic positive for tuberculosis
26 January 2022 12:54 PM
Khy Sovuthy
From January 2020 to November 2021, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) screened 15,034 migrant workers in Cambodia for tuberculosis. It found that only 1,519 had tested for the disease, of which 342—including 166 women—tested positive and were referred to health centers for treatment.

Shocking ... 22.5% of returning migrants take TB with them. Says a lot about the conditions these people live in in Thailand

I have talked about this problem for along time, Cambodia once claimed one of their doctors eradicated the problem in the country, even by giving him an award. It has been said because of the pandemic the TB situation has been overlooked. I would think therefore years before it was overlooked with all those aid donation busses lay rotting at the TB center in the city.





Look for yourselves and keep on your masks, you are more likely to get TB than Covid19.

Kammekor wrote: ↑Thu Jan 27, 2022 7:55 pm

CEOCambodiaNews wrote: ↑Thu Jan 27, 2022 6:57 pm A timely discussion on TB:

Over 300 Cambodian migrant workers returned from Thailand during pandemic positive for tuberculosis
26 January 2022 12:54 PM
Khy Sovuthy
From January 2020 to November 2021, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) screened 15,034 migrant workers in Cambodia for tuberculosis. It found that only 1,519 had tested for the disease, of which 342—including 166 women—tested positive and were referred to health centers for treatment.

Shocking ... 22.5% of returning migrants take TB with them. Says a lot about the conditions these people live in in Thailand

You actually believe that they have brought TB with them from Thailand?

AndyKK wrote: ↑Thu Jan 27, 2022 11:38 pm

Kammekor wrote: ↑Thu Jan 27, 2022 7:55 pm

CEOCambodiaNews wrote: ↑Thu Jan 27, 2022 6:57 pm A timely discussion on TB:

Over 300 Cambodian migrant workers returned from Thailand during pandemic positive for tuberculosis
26 January 2022 12:54 PM
Khy Sovuthy
From January 2020 to November 2021, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) screened 15,034 migrant workers in Cambodia for tuberculosis. It found that only 1,519 had tested for the disease, of which 342—including 166 women—tested positive and were referred to health centers for treatment.

Shocking ... 22.5% of returning migrants take TB with them. Says a lot about the conditions these people live in in Thailand

You actually believe that they have brought TB with them from Thailand?

I notice they took TB with them when they came back. I don't believe 22.5% of the Cambodians going to Thailand for work have TB. Guess it easily spreads where they live.

Its worth noting that the vaccine will again not give you 100% protection, it will probably offer no protection at all. only cure is to get medication in time, and of course to take it, here lies the problem, without outside aid and help it will spread uncontrollably. The WHO and Cambodia have already admitted the testing and treatments have been overlooked with covid19, and TB is rifer then the covid virus here.

AndyKK wrote: ↑Fri Jan 28, 2022 11:36 am Its worth noting that the vaccine will again not give you 100% protection, it will probably offer no protection at all. only cure is to get medication in time, and of course to take it, here lies the problem, without outside aid and help it will spread uncontrollably. The WHO and Cambodia have already admitted the testing and treatments have been overlooked with covid19, and TB is rifer then the covid virus here.

Sorry, are you talking about the Covid vaccine when you say it “probably” won’t give you any protection? And what basis did you come up with that erroneous fact?

No one ever said it gives 100% protection.

If you’re talking about TB then the same applies.