With the launch of DOTS (Directly Observed Treatment, Short Course) Plus medicine for tuberculosis patients, Uttarakhand will become the first Himalayan State in the country to launch the service free of cost for the patients. The State Health Department revised the treatment module for the patients to attain 100 per cent cure rate. The steps would be seen as much-needed given that the disease is highly contagious and could be spread through the air by a person suffering from TB. A single patient could easily infect 10 or more people in a year. Understanding the gravity of the disease, State Health department has been already implementing RNTCP (Revised National TB Control Programme) in all districts of the State. While speaking to The Pioneer, Dr Ajeet Gairola, Joint Director (TB) said that all necessary exercise were already completed by the department to launch DOTS-Plus in the State. He said that the treatment module for TB patients would be launched first in the districts of Dehradun and Haridwar as a pilot project and would be later introduced across the length and breadth of the State. "Tuberculosis infection occurs due to inhalation of droplet nuclei i.e. infectious particles aerosolized by coughing, sneezing or talking. These are sufficiently small to dry while airborne, remain suspended for long periods and reach terminal air passages of the lungs," he reiterated, adding that it has been observed that a cough from an infected person produces 3000 infectious droplet nuclei. Accordingly, the air in a room occupied by a patient may remain infectious for some time after he or she has left the room. Dr Gairola said that TB was completely curable through short-course chemotherapy. He said that treating TB cases that are sputum-smear positive (and can therefore spread the disease to others) at the source is the most effective means of eliminating TB from a population. Department figures clearly highlighted that Dehradun, Haridwar, Udham Singh Nagar and Nainital districts are most vulnerable districts in term of TB patients. The State Health department has set up 13 DTC (District TB Clinic Centre) and 30 TB units across the State. In a move to achieve the target, around 144 designated microscopic centres have already detecting bacteria among the patients.