This morning, I was speaking at a conference called DFID- (Drugs for the Future-Infectious Diseases) organized by NIPER in Hyderabad on our “Smart TB” platform. While listening to some talks and talking to participants, I felt a need to be more closely involved with awareness on TB. I sincerely hope we can put a stop to this deadly disease that kills more than 1.3 million people and has 3 million undiagnosed cases. HIV adds significantly to the risk of getting TB. Also more recently, diabetes has been implicated in TB. So here is a little poem to help laymen understand a little about TB. TB is not to be

– Anu Acharya , CEO Mapmygenome ***********************************

Innocence played in the air,

A little bacterium made its way,

Soon a colony of them swayed,

Into a new lung they could infect,

and grow old.

**

A third of us have latent TB,

If that is not enough of a bomb,

Every minute three of us succumb,

To this disease called tuberculosis,

I am told.

**

Life is normal for many until,

Unaware 3 million lives play to TB’s tune,

Undiagnosed, they are no longer immune,

hit by TB, A disease so ferocious,

And bold.

**

TB is curable, but why,

Do we see relapse and resistance?

6 months treatment is the insistence,

But not followed by patients,

Young and old.

 **

There is much to do,

It needs nothing short of a revolution,

Diagnostics and drugs are only part of a solution,

Together we can stopTB,

With Smart TB, I am enrolled.

**

For,

TB is not to be
there is no question

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