Tackle TB like Covid-19
THE Western Cape Government hopes its response to the tuberculosis (TB) epidemic is as agile and responsive as its response to the Covid-19 pandemic, Premier Alan Winde said.
Winde was speaking at a visit to the Centre for Childhood Infectious Diseases yesterday, while finding out more about children infected with TB.
Winde was given a tour of the facility, at the Red Cross War Memorial Children’s Hospital, with Professor Brian Eley; Professor Heather Zar, chairperson of the department of paediatrics and child health; and Dr Anita Parbhoo, the hospital’s acting chief executive.
Zar said fewer patients were admitted to the centre in the past year.
“During the strict lockdown, our admissions went right down and what we saw was children coming with more severe illness. So parents were obviously delaying until they could get to the hospital, because they were fearful of coming to the hospital.
“Fewer cases of pneumonia due to flu was noted, believed to be due to Covid-19 preventive measures – such as mask-wearing and physical distancing. Mask-wearing could potentially prevent the transmission of TB, however, masks are not worn indoors at home, where infections could be transmitted. Some of the TB symptoms to look out for in children are persistent coughing for more than four weeks, poor weight gain or malnutrition, fatigue and lethargy, and loss of appetite,” said Zar.
Winde said lessons taken from the Covid-19 response were being used to see how better to address the other “stark epidemic” – TB.
“We’ve set ourselves a task now – how do we eradicate TB? We’ve got funding from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, so I’ve asked the team to go away and come back with a plan on what we need to do. Thinking about how we've dealt with Covid-19, let's think in the same way about dealing with TB.”