This is Gwen Outen with the VOA Special English HealthReport.

Experts on tuberculosis say the best treatment program for thislung disease is DOTS. DOTS is directly observed treatment,short-course. This means health care workers watch patients taketheir medicine every day. This is a way to make sure patients takemedicine long enough to kill the germs that cause TB.

China recently reported a drop in tuberculosis rates because ofDOTS. There has also been some success in the Philippines. Butpublic health centers identified only sixty percent of TB cases inthe country. So Philippine health officials have decided also toinclude private doctors in the program.

Experts hope such efforts will reduce the spread of the kind oftuberculosis that resists common drugs. People with drug-resistantTB must take medicines that cost much more. And they must take thesefor eighteen to twenty-four months.

Normally, patients with TB must take medicine for six to eightmonths. The DOTS program calls for direct observation for the firsttwo months at least.

Health experts say most people treated for TB are cured. Butgetting people to take all their medicine is not the only problem.Around the world, experts say only thirty-seven percent of TB casesare ever identified.

The World Health Organization is trying new ways to educatepeople to see a health worker as soon as they show signs of thedisease. Earlier this year, a program started in Kenya. The programis called COMBI, which means Communication for Behavioral Impact.

Kenyan schoolchildren take home information about TB. People alsoget information through television and in movies and when they gointo businesses. Colorful signs identify health care centers wherepeople can be tested.

Doctors say people who have a cough that does not go away afterthree weeks should get tested for TB. Infected people spread thebacteria through the air when they cough. Also, people with TB oftenhave hiccups that will not stop. They may sweat at night and feelvery hot.

Yet there are reasons why people do not go to a doctor when theyhave signs of TB. They may not think a cough is very serious. Theymay need to keep working even though they are sick. Finding a doctormay not be easy. In the words of a W.H.O. report, "Knowing what todo is different from doing it."

This VOA Special English Health Report was written by KarenLeggett. This is Gwen Outen.