title: Knowledge, attitude and practices regarding tuberculosis and dots among interns in delhi, India.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To assess the knowledge, attitude and practices regarding tuberculosis (TB) and DOTS among young medical graduates (interns).
  
  
  METHODS
  Cross-sectional study.
  
  
  METHODS
  Lady Hardinge Medical College and Maulana Azad Medical College, New Delhi, India, during November and December 2002, simultaneously.
  
  
  METHODS
  A pre-tested semi-structured questionnaire consisting of 30 items was administered to the young medical graduates/interns posted in different departments. The questions covered mode of transmission, symptoms of pulmonary TB, investigations, short course chemotherapy including DOTS as well as conventional anti-tubercular treatment, special situations, health education and chemoprophylaxis.
  
  
  RESULTS
  A total of 287 interns were surveyed. Majority of the study subjects (92.7%) ranked DOTS strategy as more successful for treating tuberculosis in comparison to self-administered therapy. However, a mere 4.2% study subjects were aware of all modes of transmission. One hundred and eighty-nine (65.9%) correctly chose sputum examination for acid fast bacilli as the single most confirmatory test for diagnosing pulmonary TB. The rest either gave incorrect responses (including ELISA-17.0%, PCR-9.8%, X-ray chest-4.2%, ESR-1.7%) or did not respond (1.4%). Only 2.1% marked pyrazinamide and rifampicin as the agents to be avoided in patients with liver disease. One hundred and forty-one different treatment regimens were mentioned in the responses received and of those only 11(7.8%) were scientifically acceptable.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  TB is a major health problem in South-East Asian countries. There is a need for appropriate changes to be made in the undergraduate medical teaching/training curriculum in the concerned countries with regard to TB.
authors.affiliation: Department of Epidemiology, New Delhi Tuberculosis Centre, Jawaharlal Nehru Marg, New Delhi - 110002, India.
authors.forename: Sanjay
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Rajpal
authors.forename: Anshu
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Mittal
authors.forename: V K
authors.initials: VK
authors.lastname: Dhingra
authors.forename: Rahul
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Malhotra
authors.forename: Rajni
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Gupta
authors.forename: Chetna
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Malhotra
authors.forename: D K
authors.initials: DK
authors.lastname: Taneja