Takoradi — Dr Kweku Karikari, Western Regional Director of Health Services, has called on the public to report suspected signs of tuberculosis (TB) for treatment to ward off the spread of the disease.

He said individuals who are at high risk of developing active TB are people living with HIV/AIDS, tobacco smokers, alcoholics, drug abusers, malnourished individuals and diabetics.

Addressing the media, he noted that 90 per cent of those infected with the TB bacilli do not show any symptoms. The treatment of TB, he said, was free and the public should support efforts to eradicate it.

He said loss of appetite, fever often at night, weight loss and night sweats are some of the symptoms of TB. He added that the disease may cause coughing, blood stained sputum, chest pains and shortness of breath and may spread from person to person through the air.

In Ghana it is estimated that for every 100,000 population, for every year 90 new smear positive active cases and 302 cases of all forms of TB emerge.

Dr Karikari stressed that his outfit's objective was to reduce the mortality and morbidity of the disease as well as the transmission of its infection until it was no longer a threat to the public.

He said they have outlined strategies to control the disease by ensuring high case notification and management, and high cure and treatment success rate.

He therefore appealed to the media to support the formal health sector to increase case notification rate by mobilising partners in all sectors of the country to support the control of TB in the Western Region.