TUBERCULOSIS: IT’S TIME FOR MORE ACTION
Tuberculosis is a contagious disease caused by a bacteria known as mycobacterium and it usually affects the lungs of human and other parts of the body like the brain and spine. It is transmitted either by physical contact with person suffering from the disease or by casual contact with their secretions or objects coughed out by them or airborne route, among other routes.
According to World Health Organization (WHO), tuberculosis, popularly known as TB, remains a security threat to health as it is one of the top 10 causes of death worldwide, causing about 1.3 million deaths in Nigeria in 2016.
As stated earlier, tuberculosis is caused by a bacterium and can be transmitted from an infected person to an uninfected person through microscopic droplets released into the air through sneezing, coughing, talking amongst others and is inhaled by the uninfected person.
There are types of contagious disease that affect the human immune system, but the common types are the active and latent tuberculosis infection.
Active tuberculosis is a situation in which the human immune system is unable to fight off the TB bacteria, therefore causing infection in the lungs or other parts of the body while latent tuberculosis is the stage where the virus or bacteria is inactive but remains alive in the body of the victim. Latent tuberculosis can later become active if not properly treated or managed.
Symptoms of this disease are not easily noticeable especially in the case of latent tuberculosis, but the symptoms mostly noticeable in cases of especially active TB include severe coughing, weight loss, night sweats, fever, blood in saliva, or phlegm while some may experience pains in the chest region, swollen lymph nodes, as the case may be.
As contagious as tuberculosis is, it is not easy to contact, but someone with close contact from the victim like a colleague at work or a family member poses a high risk of getting infected. It is therefore advisable for tuberculosis patients to protect themselves so that family and friends will not be infected.
According to research, most people with active TB who had appropriate treatment for at least two weeks cannot spread the virus nor infect the other person, but could be complicated if the virus is not properly treated or treatment not completed.
It is the quest to tackle this world’s deadliest infectious killer which according to WHO daily claims the lives of nearly 4500 people with about 30,000 people falling ill that made the global body to show more urgency making the theme of the World TB Day 2019, ‘It’s Time’.
Meanwhile, research has shown that factors that have led to the increased rate of the virus in Nigeria amongst others include weakened immune system, poverty and substance abuse, lack of medical care, living or working in residential care facility and tobacco use.
Out of the listed factors responsible for increase in TB in Nigeria and some Africa countries, lack and ignorance of medical care has been considered the major factor. In most cases, infected people do not have access to proper treatment and some could not afford the treatment of the virus.
In this wise, one most commend the Ogun State Government under the leadership of Senator Ibikunle Amosun for being the first state in the country to set up a mobile clinic for diagnosing and treating TB.
The initiative which is a one- stop shop tagged “wellness on wheels”( W O W) concentrates on taking the campaign against tuberculosis to all the 20 local governments and 37 local council development areas (LCDAs) of the state. Soneye Nosimot, Abeokuta