We are leading in the poverty disease incidence. The tuberculosis still causes problems in Romania. 15,000 Romanians were diagnosed last year. Double than our Bulgarian neighbors. The good news is that the number is declining and mortality is down by half. Romanians do not know, however, what the disease actually means and lift a firewall in front of those who come to the doctor.
The TB patient is still an outcast. Many do not know what the disease means but they refuse any contact with such a person from the start.
As long as they take their treatment, patients do not pose a risk to others. In restaurants, though, if they admit to their illness even under treatment, consumptives are not allowed.
Those who refuse to be diagnosed do nothing but spread the virus.
Last year, Romania has managed to decrease the mortality rate from tuberculosis by half and the incidence among children by 60%. Even so, we are the country with the highest number of consumptives in the European Union. Even Bulgaria, a country poorer than us, has got less patients than we do.