Experts say the habit of some tuberculosis sufferers discontinuing their medication when their conditions improve is frustrating medical efforts against the disease.
Dr Immaculine Yao Geraldo, medical officer in charge of the disease in the Dormaa municipality in Brong Ahafo said interrupted medication could worsen the conditions.
"This practice is dangerous as it tends to breed resistance in the virus and also promotes a breakdown in the patient's immune system," he warned.
Dr Geraldo was speaking at the first quarterly review meeting of the municipal health management committee at Dormaa Ahenkro.
He emphasized that early detection and self-commitment by TB patients and their care givers were crucial for the total cure and minimization of the disease.
He said 24 persons were diagnosed of the disease in the municipality in the first quarter of 2009, up from seven cases within the same period in 2008.
"The increase in TB cases gives the positive indication that people have become conscious of the symptoms of the disease and are ready to report themselves for early treatment", Dr Geraldo noted.
He stated that the seven cases reported last year had all been successfully treated.
Dr Geraldo said TB's delicate mode of spread required a concerted approach from both patients and non-patients to bring it under control.
The municipal health management team said it had plans to co-ordinate TB and HIV activities in order to prescribe effective medication for management of both diseases simultaneously.