Tuberculosis (TB) remains a serious global health crisis, impacting millions of individuals every year. While a lot of focus is placed on the physical symptoms of the condition, its psychological impact is often overlooked. Not only do patients experience the direct consequences of the condition but they also suffer greatly from psychological issues such as stress, anxiety, and depression. Research has shown that TB patients often have higher levels of psychological distress caused by social stigma, long treatment durations, economic burdens, and separation.

Dr. Shweta Bansal, Sr. Consultant & Unit Head - Respiratory Disease & Sleep Medicine, points out that psychological distress can change patterns of gene expression, resulting in immune responses that exacerbate TB symptoms and interfere with treatment outcomes. Stress and anxiety affect TB susceptibility and progression, and therefore mental health interventions are a critical part of TB care. Without incorporating mental health support into TB treatment, patient adherence decreases, and the risk of complications, such as drug resistance, increases.

Neglected Symptoms of Drug-Resistant TB

A growing worry is the increased prevalence of drug-resistant TB (DR-TB) in young adults. Most in this age bracket view work and lifestyle needs above their health, and as such, early TB symptoms are ignored. "Young adults work long hours, ignoring symptoms of sickness in the name of hustle culture," opines Dr. Bansal. Symptoms of common DR-TB, including chronic cough, low-grade fever, tiredness, and loss of weight, are usually attributed to stress or fatigue. The fact that the symptoms are delayed allows the infection to advance, making treatment more difficult and elevating the risk of transmission.

Early diagnosis is important to avert DR-TB from gaining more ground among younger generations. Yet, the stigma of TB tends to prevent young adults from visiting doctors, further worsening the situation. Dr. Bansal opines, "Adolescents need to recognize unusual health changes and see doctors early. Health precedes continuous work in avoiding severe complications of TB."

Environmental and Lifestyle Factors Increasing DR-TB Risk

Although tobacco smoking—cigarettes, e-cigarettes, and vaping—is a recognized risk factor for TB, there are other environmental and lifestyle factors that increase susceptibility substantially. According to Dr. Bansal, air pollution, excessive stress, and poor nutrition weaken immunity and make young adults susceptible to TB infection.

Also, the abuse of antibiotics contributes to DR-TB emergence. "Taking antibiotics repeatedly for everyday respiratory infection may lead to antibiotic resistance, and TB becomes harder to treat," she clarifies. Poor living conditions with high-density populations, like group apartments or hostels, also increase the risk of exposure to TB germs. These combined circumstances contribute to an environment where TB germs have a chance to survive, making prevention and early detection more pressing.

Danger of Misdiagnosed TB and the Role of Awareness

One major obstacle to the control of TB is misdiagnosis. TB cases often go undiagnosed as the symptoms are similar to usual respiratory infections, allergies, or flu during seasonal times. Chronic cough, low fever, and persistent fatigue are often brushed off as minor illness. Physical signs, like lumps in the neck or under the arm—TB's possible early warning signs—are often overlooked or attributed to other infections, warns Dr. Bansal.

Misdiagnosis leads to delayed treatment, with TB developing into drug-resistant strains. "Young adults do not usually consider TB as a risk, so they may not seek early testing. This delay allows for drug-resistant TB to progress, making it difficult to treat," reports Dr. Bansal. Awareness, early screening, and education regarding symptoms of night sweats and unexplained weight loss are all key to tackling this increasing epidemic.

Mental Health Cost of Drug-Resistant TB

In addition to the physical hardship, drug-resistant TB has a serious psychological cost. The long and frequently painful treatment process—months of aggressive antibiotic therapy—can be extremely emotionally taxing. Depression and anxiety are common among TB patients, compounded by social isolation and economic hardship.

Depression, a global mental health condition, is suffered by about 4.4% of the world's population. The South-East Asia region carries a heavy burden, and India alone has about 18% of the world's depression cases. Dr. Bansal points out that "depression can arise from interruptions in daily life, social isolation, disease stigma, and TB symptoms. In extreme cases, depression can lead to suicidal thoughts and a poor quality of life."

Coping strategies are essential in addressing the psychological burden of DR-TB. Support systems, psychotherapy, and lifestyle changes can assist patients in coping with the emotional burden of their condition. Dr. Bansal promotes the incorporation of mental health interventions into TB treatment, citing that "it is imperative that mental health treatments be integrated into TB care in conjunction with initiatives to lessen stigma and enhance social support."

The quiet outbreak of drug-resistant TB among young adults necessitates immediate intervention. Increased awareness, early diagnosis, and treatment strategy in full range—including mental care—are crucial for stemming this mounting health threat. While hustle culture keeps on motivating young people to ignore their wellbeing, solving the problem of TB in this population calls for an all-round plan that puts prime importance on education, preventive management, and sturdy healthcare system.

Finally, fighting DR-TB requires changing public attitudes. TB is not just an old disease—a disease of the past—it is still an ongoing and urgent international challenge. Only by taking early measures, raising awareness at the lifestyle level, and adopting comprehensive healthcare measures can we ensure that DR-TB does not become an even more dangerous public health challenge.

Dr. Shweta Bansal is a Sr. Consultant & Unit Head of Respiratory Disease & Sleep Medicine (Unit II) at Artemis Hospitals in India.

If you're trying to conceive or even think you might be pregnant, the wait and anticipation for a pregnancy test can be nerve-wracking—hope, worry, excitement, or fear all in one little plastic stick but before you rip open that foil package, there's something important you may be forgetting: the expiration date.

Yes, pregnancy kits do have expiry dates. And taking one which has passed that date may cause false results. This article touches on why checking that date on the kit first is important before you test, how pregnancy kits work, and what dangers such expired kits possess. Supported by expert opinion and scientific knowledge, this guide endeavors to equip you with the knowledge you require for making informed reproductive health choices.

Home pregnancy tests detect the human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG) hormone in your urine, which your body begins making shortly after the fertilized egg implants in your uterus. The test sticks use special antibodies with chemicals that have been treated to respond to hCG and report a positive finding—usually lines, plus symbols, or messages on a display.

With time, though, the delicate components break down. After the test has reached or exceeded its expiration date, the chemical reagents can no longer act dependably. That is, the test might not register hCG when it's actually there, providing you with a false negative result, or—much less often—report a false positive based on poor chemical reactions.

What Happens When a Pregnancy Test Expires?

The date of expiration on a pregnancy test is not merely a courtesy. Companies test their products extensively to find out how long the ingredients will be stable and consistent under normal storage conditions. A pregnancy test will usually be effective for one to three years from the date of manufacture.

Once that time has passed, the antibodies that are employed to identify hCG start to weaken. This weakening is subtle but significant—making the test incapable of giving accurate results. The older the test, the greater the likelihood that you'll leave with a result that doesn't accurately represent your pregnancy status.

Just as important as the expiration date is how the test is stored. According to healthcare professionals, the performance of a pregnancy test can deteriorate even before its listed expiry if it’s stored improperly.

Avoid exposing the test to heat, moisture, or direct sunlight. A bathroom medicine cabinet, while convenient, is often not ideal due to the humidity from showers and temperature fluctuations. Instead, keep pregnancy tests in a cool, dry place, and avoid unwrapping individual tests until you’re ready to use them. Unsealing the protective foil can introduce air and moisture that degrade the chemicals faster.

How to Identify an Expired Test?

Always inspect the outer package and test wrapper individually for a printed expiration date. If it is absent or smudged, better not take a risk. Also, beware of buying tests from third-party retailers or online stores where expired stock may go unnoticed.

It's also good to know that even tests just purchased can be old inventory. If you've had a test kit in your bathroom drawer for more than one year, verify the printed date before you use it.

Can You Trust an Expired Test?

Technically, it's possible for an outdated pregnancy test to return a correct result—but it's not reliable. The odds of false negatives grow more sharply with time, which can cause confusion, worry, and delay in obtaining critical prenatal care.

Under FDA recommendations, most erroneous results from past-due tests are likely to be false negatives. This may lead one to continue habits or drugs that are not best practiced in early pregnancy—or lose the opportunity to start early prenatal supplements or tests.

The effect of depending on an out-of-date pregnancy test isn't only medical—it's psychological as well. Inaccurate results can induce undue distress, confusion, or early rejoicing. Even worse, they may stall time-critical health choices like verifying the pregnancy through a physician, making blood work appointments, or starting lifestyle modifications to facilitate a healthy pregnancy.

In medical situations where time is of the essence—like watching over high-risk pregnancies or starting specific treatments—true, timely information is paramount.

Best Practices for Taking a Home Pregnancy Test

To ensure most accurate results, follow these steps:

• Inspect the expiration date before taking any test, even if the package appears new.
• Take first-morning urine when hCG is most concentrated in the urine.
• Wait until the first day of your missed period to take the test; testing earlier riskily produces a false negative.
• Take directions exactly, including timing when to read the results.
• Dispose of unused tests properly, in a dry, cool environment and in their original sealed package.

How Expired Pregnancy Tests Impact Health and Results?

Taking an expired pregnancy test can result in incorrect results, which might lead to undue confusion or undue delay in taking the appropriate next step. Here's what you should know regarding the effectiveness of an expired pregnancy test:

Increased Chance of False Negatives

One of the most significant problems with using an outdated pregnancy test is the increased likelihood of getting a false negative result. This is where the test will show that you're not pregnant when you actually are. This is due to the chemical compounds, especially the antibodies employed to identify hCG, breaking down over time, thus it becomes hard for the test to give a true result.

Degraded Antibodies

Pregnancy tests detect human Chorionic Gonadotropin (hCG), a hormone that is formed during pregnancy. After a while, the antibodies in the test, which cause a response when hCG is present, become weakened. So even if you are pregnant, the test may fail to measure the hormone at a level that is high enough.

Health Risks

As per the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), expired pregnancy tests tend to give false negatives rather than false positives. A false positive may also occur but is less so with expired tests.

Exposure to External Factors

The reliability of a pregnancy test is also affected by the way it's stored. Incorrect storage, for example exposure to sunlight, humidity, or heat, causes the components to degrade faster and results in more opportunities for getting incorrect results prior to reaching expiration.

Waste of Time and Money

Using an expired test not only reduces the likelihood of getting an accurate result but also wastes your time and money. It's best to check the expiration date before using the test and, if expired, purchase a new one for peace of mind and more reliable results.

Emotional Stress

The effect of depending on an out-of-date pregnancy test isn't only medical—it's psychological as well. Inaccurate results can induce undue distress, confusion, or early rejoicing.

Though home pregnancy tests are an efficient and convenient means of early pregnancy detection, their accuracy relies on a number of major factors, foremost among them their expiration date. Testing with one that has expired may cause emotional distress and delay medical attention at a time when it's needed most.

Malaria is a life-threatening disease that is spread to humans by a specific type of mosquito. It is preventable and curable, but only if detected on time. People who are at high risk include travellers, pregnant women and those with HIV/AIDS. On Friday, while marking World Malaria Day, the World Health Organisation (WHO) asserted that half of the total global population is at risk of this vector borne disease. So now, the question arises: how does it spread?

Malaria is a vector-borne disease. It is spread through female anopheles mosquitoes. These mosquitoes carry single-cell P. Falciparum, which is a pathogen behind this disease. There are five types of Plasmodium parasite, with P. Falciparum (which is found in the African region) and P. Vivax ( common outside the sub-Saharan region) being the most popular. Left untreated, P. Falciparum malaria can progress to severe illness and death within 24 hours.

Malaria Can Be Spread Through Blood Transfusion

But there is empirical evidence that it can also be transmitted through blood transfusion and contaminated needles. Transfusion-transmitted malaria (TTM) occurs when an uninfected person receives blood from a donor who is infected with malaria parasites. While malaria transmission through transfusion is rare, especially in non-endemic areas, it remains a significant concern in certain regions.

According to a systematic review of studies conducted by National Library of Medicine, Plasmodium parasites were shown to survive in whole blood and plasma when stored at 4°C for up to 18 days, and detectable parasites can present even up to 28 days when frozen, although with diminished infectivity.

How To Identify Malaria?

The early symptoms of Malaria are fever, headache and chills, which can usually start within 10 to 15 days of getting bitten by an infected mosquito. Some types of malaria can cause severe illness and death. Infants, children under 5 years, pregnant women, travellers and people with HIV or AIDS are at higher risk. Severe symptoms include:

• extreme tiredness and fatigue
• impaired consciousness
• multiple convulsions
• difficulty breathing
• dark or bloody urine
• jaundice (yellowing of the eyes and skin)
• abnormal bleeding

People with severe symptoms should get emergency care right away. Getting treatment early for mild malaria can stop the infection from becoming severe. Malaria infection during pregnancy can also cause premature delivery or delivery of a baby with low birth weight.

Disproportionate Share Of Global Malaria Burden

The WHO African Region continues to carry a disproportionately high share of the global malaria burden. In 2023, the region was home to about 94% of all malaria cases and 95% of deaths. Children under 5 years of age accounted for about 76% of all malaria deaths in this region. Over half of these deaths occurred in four countries: Nigeria (30.9%), the Democratic Republic of the Congo (11.3%), Niger (5.9%) and United Republic of Tanzania (4.3%).

Each year, hundreds of people around the world lose their lives waiting for a life-saving organ transplant. The demand for organs far outweighs the supply, leaving many patients with little hope. But what if we could print organs—tailor-made for each patient—using their own cells? While we're not quite there yet, researchers are making significant strides in this futuristic field known as 3d bioprinting.

Though the technology is still far from clinical trials, scientists believe that when 3d-printed organs become a medical reality, the process will likely involve a blend of cutting-edge imaging, personalised cell harvesting, and highly advanced bioprinting methods. Here's what this groundbreaking process could look like.

Step 1: Creating a Personalised 3D Model

To print a functional organ, the process begins with creating a precise 3D blueprint. While generic models can serve as a starting point, personalisation is key. Using imaging technologies like MRI (Magnetic Resonance Imaging) and CT (Computed Tomography) scans, medical professionals can generate a detailed digital model of the organ tailored specifically to the patient’s anatomy. This personalized design enhances the chances of a successful transplant by ensuring the printed organ will fit and function properly in the recipient’s body.

Step 2: Collecting Patient’s Cells And Preparing Bioink

One of the biggest hurdles in organ transplantation is rejection, which happens when the recipient’s immune system attacks the new organ. To reduce this risk, scientists aim to use the patient’s own cells to build the organ. These cells are harvested, cultivated in labs, and combined with a specially designed “bioink”—a gel-like substance engineered to mimic the structure of natural tissues. This bioink becomes the medium through which living cells can be precisely layered and formed into complex biological structures.

Step 3: Printing the Organ

With a personalized 3D model in hand and a supply of bioink rich in the patient’s cells, the actual printing process begins. The organ is built layer by layer, using bioprinters designed to handle delicate biological material. Some methods involve extrusion-based bioprinting, which pushes the bioink through a nozzle to form a structure, similar to how icing is piped onto a cake. Other techniques rely on light-based bioprinting, which uses beams of light to shape the biomaterial with incredible precision.

In some cases, additional cells may be added to the organ after printing to support its development or enhance functionality. Although the exact tools and materials are still being refined, technologies such as the BIO X, BIO X6, and LUMEN X are among those helping to push the boundaries of what’s possible in tissue engineering.

Road Ahead

While researchers are still navigating numerous scientific and ethical challenges, the vision of printing fully functional, transplantable organs is no longer science fiction. With continued innovation and global collaboration, 3D bioprinting could one day eliminate organ shortages altogether, saving countless lives and revolutionizing modern medicine.