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Dr.Khursheed Alam, Dr.Talha Bin Liaquat, Dr.Adnan khadim
Background- Before diagnosis of tuberculosis in a patients and initiation of treatment, the infected person can infect some healthy people. In order to prevent the tuberculosis undiscerning spitting is like a challenge, as there is very limited awareness about tuberculosis. Material and Methods- This is a cross sectional study carried out in Bahawlpur Victoria Hospital to evaluate the practices, attitude and knowledge about the tuberculosis by asking the questions with the help of semi-structured questionnaire to the patients of extensively drug-resistant tuberculosis and multidrug-resistant tuberculosis. In this we focused on the etiology, spreading mode, factor related to the treatment, attitude and treatment practices, and knowledge and attitude toward the prevention of spread such as sputum disposal. Results: For this study we selected 250 patients including 135 females and 165 males having the mean age 29 ± 11 years. 241 of the patients had the correct knowledge about tuberculosis symptoms with the percentage of 96%, 235 had the correct knowledge about spreading mode i.e. 94%, 246 i.e. 98% know correct duration of treatment. All the patients have correct attitude toward anti-tubercular treatment. 246 patients know how to cover their mouth while sneezing and coughing. Additionally, only 18% i.e. 45 know about the correct disposal of sputum as 26% patients dispose off their sputum in open. Conclusion- It was concluded during this study that despite of correct knowledge and attitude toward tuberculosis only a few ones are practically disposed of their sputum safely. There is a big gap in awareness about the correct disposal of sputum in people. Keywords: Tuberculosis, practice, knowledge, attitude