Dr. Diwan Israr Khan’s book “Tuberculosis Transmission among contacts: Myth and Reality” published

Aligarh :  Dr. Diwan Israr Khan’s book on Childhood Tuberculosis, titled “Tuberculosis Transmission among contacts: Myth and Reality” has been published by Lap Lambert Academic Publishing, a reputed German publisher, recently.

Dr. Diwan Israr Khan has completed his education from Aligarh Muslim University. He did his MBBS and MD (Paediatrics) from J.N. Medical College and presently working as Chief Medical Officer (CMO), University Health Service. Dr. Farzana K. Beig, Associate Professor in the Department of Paediatrics and Dr. Sana Maria Khan, MBBS, DMRT were the co-author of the book.

The book “Tuberculosis Transmission among contacts: Myth and Reality” highlighted the mode of transmission of tuberculosis among the contacts of sputum positive as well as sputum negative adult. It has been estimated that one third of the people on the planet have been infected with Mycobacterium tuberculosis. The World Health Organization estimated that at least 180 million children aged less than 15 years were infected with Mycobacterium tuberculosis worldwide. The infection is almost exclusively transmitted through air from patients with pulmonary disease. The risk of transmission is greatest if the index case is “sputum smear positive” and is directly proportional to the bacillary density in respiratory secretions.

Children in contact with adult patients are at highest risk of getting infected and hence contact screening is important for early detection of transmission of infection. This is of great value not only to detect infected individuals but for the community as a whole, because a child with tuberculosis represents recent and ongoing transmission of infection within the community. As pediatrician it is our duty to reach to the base of iceberg i.e., the children’s pool of tuberculosis lying in the siblings of family.