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Tuberculosis in the mines is expected to be the focus of this year’s World TB Day event in Fochville.

Miners in South Africa’s gold mines have the highest rates of TB infection in the world.

The rate of TB infection among miners is between 3 000 and 7 000 per 100 000 populations – between four and seven times higher than the general population of South Africa, the country with the second highest TB rates in the world.

Deputy President Kgalema Motlanthe is expected to address a World TB Day event at the Popo Molefe Stadium in Fochville this morning. The theme the event is “finding, treating and curing TB in hard to reach communities”.

On 25 March, South Africa will host a SADC Ministerial Summit in Johannesburg to thrash out the regional response to TB in the mining sector.

World TB Day provides an opportunity for affected persons and the communities in which they live, governments, civil society organisations, health care providers, and international partners to call for further action to reach people who have been infected with TB.

TB is a preventable and curable disease. Symptoms include a cough for two or more weeks, night sweats, unexplained weight loss, night sweats, loss of appetite and tiredness.

TB is a disease that is caused by a germ called Mycobacterium Tuberculosis. The germ usually attacks the lungs, but can attack any part of the body, such as the kidney, spine and brain.

Once diagnosed with TB, patients are encouraged to complete their six-month treatment. If you stop taking the TB medication before the full six months you can spread the infection to other people, fall sick with complicated TB disease and develop the resistant form of TB disease. – SAnews.gov.za