Kathmandu, March 25 -- One in every three Nepalis carries the tuberculosis bacillus. There may be no active symptoms, but they can at any point progree into a full blown infection.

TB kills up to 47 Nepalis daily. If so many people died every day in road traffic accidents, it would make headlines every day. But they do not because tuberculosis afflicts the poorest people in the poorest parts of Nepal.

The annual 17,000 fatalities from tuberculosis in Nepal are preventable with cost-effective treatment. A new pilot study in Chitwan and Piuthan in the past two years showed that of the 1,173 people given a Tuberculin Skin Test (Mantoux Test), 1,127 were positive. Following a Mantoux test and chest x-ray, 509 were diagnosed with latent TB ...