Tuberculosis is said to be one of the world’s deadly diseases across the globe. The World Health Organisation (WHO) has declared it an emergency challenge that must be tackled frontally so as to save the world population. Austin Oyibode of ZENITHBLOG.com examines the deadly disease.
Mabel Obi, a 25-year-old graduate of microbiology from the University of Lagos has been suffering from tuberculosis for the past six months. Prior to contracting the disease middle of last year, Mabel was the darling of her home in Abraka, the university town of Delta state. After graduation in 2015, Mabel began her youth service in Ibadan, capital of Oyo state where she was diagnosed with tuberculosis.
The disease affected her drastically, reducing her to a shadow of herself. Medical personnel battled to save her, applied all known medical treatment, and referred her to several centres, but efforts to save her life are yet to yield needed results. As at the time of filing this report, Mabel is still struggling with the disease as her hope of survival hangs in the balance.
Mabel is not the only person in this case. Many others across the country are battling with tuberculosis, a good number of which are unknown who are daily dying in the rural communities in Nigeria. Some, rather than treating tuberculosis are treating malaria and the ailment is taking a worrisome dimension in their lives.
This man is a tuberculosis patient. His chance of survival is very slim
Many do not know the difference between malaria and tuberculosis, hence the illness must have dealt hard with them before discovering that it is not malaria but tuberculosis. And again, many do not take the right treatment even after discovering it is malaria. And the ailment gets transmitted from one person to the other as the infected person coughs or drops spittle on the ground.
John Abe, a 23-year-old graduate of Delta state university, Abraka, is also suffering from tuberculosis. John graduated from the university and was waiting mobilization for the National Youth Service Corps. She said: “I was working on some projects and conducting research when I took ill.
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“School wasn’t in session and I wanted to make some extra preparations for the next semester before I discovered the disease. That was in May 2016 when I was in my final year.” She continued: “I had been to the Central Hospital Warri; then I was referred to one closer to my home.
“I also went for some private checks to double check what the government hospitals were saying, just to be sure.” Mercy is, however, optimistic for a better future. Mercy’s youth service is postponed until she is fully recovered.
John Osioni from Ughelli, a 21-year-old student of Delta School of Nursing, is another tuberculosis patient at the Eku Tuberculosis and Leprosy centre, close to Abraka. He discovered the disease between 2014 and 2015 when he was in senior secondary 3. He said it started with coughing and fever. He was being treated for malaria while the tuberculosis was developing in him undetected.
“We later discovered and started treating the tuberculosis. We discovered from where I was receiving treatment, the lady observed that the sickness was not going and therefore recommended that I go for tuberculosis test and the test showed positive.
“And so, for the past three years we have been on it. Ever since it has been weighing me down; chest pain, back pain, all the joints, everywhere paining me. I’ve stopped schooling, I deferred the admission because of the pains. We were about to resume year two when the thing weighed me down and I couldn’t continue. And so, last year in July 2016, I had to stop school to concentrate on the treatment. And by the grace of God I’m getting better.”
Meg Ike, the senior programme officer at the Community Medicine Department of the Institute of Human Virology in Nigeria, said tuberculosis is a disease that could be cured within six months. But she said the poor attitude of Nigerians to health management leads to many tuberculosis patients graduating from the initial susceptible stage to the drug resistant stage, which, if care is not taken, could lead to the third stage, and that stage remains absolutely incurable by medical science.
Another tuberculosis patient receiving treatment
She said many patients die because of poor understanding of tuberculosis and inappropriate treatment. According to Ike, the susceptible stage of tuberculosis can be treated within six to 12 months, while the second stage, resistant tuberculosis, lasts for about 20 months, which is divided into two sections.
Dr. Alexander Akpodiete, the deputy control officer of the Tuberculosis and Leprosy Referral Centre in Eku, Delta state, revealed that no fewer than 500,000 people are diagnosed with tuberculosis every year in Nigeria, with only 100,000 of those receiving access to health care facilities. He also said in Delta there are new cases estimated at 15,000 per year, but medical experts say only between 2500 and 3000 receive treatment annually.
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Dr Akpodiete said Nigeria ranks 10th among the 22 high-burden tuberculosis countries globally, and that although the World Health Organization (WHO) has declared the disease a global
Research findings, according to Akpodiete, are indicative that one third of the world’s population, a total of two billion people, are carriers of tuberculosis, noting that more than nine million of these are sick each year with active tuberculosis that could spread to others.
He said globally, tuberculosis is the second greatest contributor among infectious diseases to adult mortality, causing approximately 1.7 million deaths a year worldwide, and that given the increasing trends towards globalization, transnational migration and tourism, all countries are susceptible to outbreaks of tuberculosis.
Delta state commissioner for health, Dr. Nicholas Azinge, on the world tuberculosis day, said globally, over 10 million cases of tuberculosis were reported in 2016, adding that the 2016 global report showed that Nigeria had the highest tuberculosis in Africa and ranked fourth on the list of countries with TB.
Azinge, who addressed ZENITHBLOG.com with other journalists in Asaba, added that Delta state is one of the 22 high burden states for tuberculosis in Nigeria. He said the health ministry notified 2235 new cases of TB in 2016. According to him, TB is caused by bacteria that often affects the lungs.
He added that tuberculosis is spread from person to person through the air. “When people with lung TB cough, sneeze or spit, they propel the TB germs into the air. A person needs to inhale only a few of these germs to become infected,” Azinge said, noting: ““When people with lung TB cough, sneeze or spit, they propel the TB germs into the air. A person needs to inhale only a few of these germs to become infected,” Azinge said, noting: “About one-third of the world population has latent TB which means people have been infected by TB but are not ill with the disease and cannot transmit same to people around them.”
Dr. Azinge further said ending tuberculosis has been a development challenge and opportunity. He said it is about tackling poverty and inequity, stressing that ministries of health cannot do it alone. He said it required intensified action across government ministries, communities, development partners, the private sector and the civil society groups.
How tuberculosis is ravaging lives, killing people in major countries including Nigeria
Investigations by ZENITHBLOG.com revealed that in 2015, 1.8 million people died from the disease, with 10.4 million falling ill. In the 18th and 19th centuries, a tuberculosis epidemic rampaged throughout Europe and North America, before the German microbiologist Robert Koch discovered the microbial causes of tuberculosis in 1882.
Following Koch’s discovery, the development of vaccines and effective treatment led to the belief that the disease was almost defeated. Indeed, at one point, the United Nations, predicted that tuberculosis would be eliminated worldwide by 2025.
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However, in the mid-80s, TB cases began to rise worldwide, so much so, that in 1993, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared that TB was a global emergency; the first time that a disease had been labeled as such.
Fortunately, with proper treatment, the vast majority of cases of tuberculosis are curable. Cases of TB have decreased in the United States since 1993, but the disease remains a global concern. Without proper treatment, up to two-thirds of people ill with tuberculosis will die.
The disease is highest in Africa, particularly West African and sub-Saharan Africa, Afghanistan, Southeast Asia, including Pakistan, India, Bangladesh, and Indonesia, China, Russia, South America, Western Pacific region – including the Philippines, Cambodia and Vietnam.
TB is a leading killer of HIV-positive people: in 2015, 35% of HIV deaths were due to TB. An estimated 49 million lives were saved through TB diagnosis and treatment between 2000 and 2015. Ending the TB epidemic by 2030 is among the health targets of the newly adopted Sustainable Development Goals.
Tuberculosis (TB) is caused by bacteria (Mycobacterium tuberculosis) that most often affect the lungs.
People infected with TB bacteria have a 10% lifetime risk of falling ill with TB. However, people with compromised immune systems, such as people living with HIV, malnutrition or diabetes, or people who use tobacco, have a much higher risk of falling ill.
Tuberculosis mostly affects adults in their most productive years. However, all age groups are at risk. Over 95% of cases and deaths are in developing countries of the world.
People who are infected with HIV are 20 to 30 times more likely to develop active TB. The risk of active TB is also greater in people suffering from other conditions that impair the immune system.
Tobacco use greatly increases the risk of TB disease and death. More than 20% of TB cases worldwide are attributable to smoking.
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