AS part of measures to contain the spread of tuberculosis, the Delta State Government, through the Ministry of Health, has provided 81centres for the diagnosis of tuberculosis and treatment in over 200 government established Directly Observed Treatment, Short-course (DOTS) Centres across the state.
The State Commissioner for Health, Dr. Nicholas Azinge stated this weekend in a statewide broadcast in Asaba to mark this year’s World Tuberculosis Day with the theme ‘Unite to end Tuberculosis.’
He said “As we mark the World Tuberculosis Day, today, let us “Unite to End Tuberculosis” in our lifetime as tuberculosis should not be left for the next generation to tackle.”
According to him, the World Tuberculosis Day is set aside by the global community to remind us all of tuberculosis, a disease of public health importance, in line with this year’s theme – “unite to end tuberculosis.”
Dr. Azinge noted that tuberculosis anywhere is tuberculosis everywhere because of its mode of transmission, hence the declaration of 2017 as the year of ‘Accelerated Case Finding and Treatment in Nigeria,’ noting that symptoms such as cough, fever, night sweats, or weight loss, which may be mild for many months, are exhibited when a person develops active tuberculosis. During this period, people with active tuberculosis can infect 10-15 other people through close contact.
Azinge enjoined anyone with cough lasting two weeks or more to go to the nearest Directly Observed Treatment, Short-course (DOTS) Centre, for medication.
The commissioner revealed that worldwide, over 10 million new cases of tuberculosis were estimated to occur in the year 2016 and out of this number, three million went undetected. In 2016, Nigeria notified less than 20 per cent of the total tuberculosis cases estimated for the year, implying that there were many undetected tuberculosis cases in communities.
He revealed that the 2016 Global Tuberculosis Report showed that Nigeria had the highest tuberculosis burden in Africa and ranked fourth on the list of countries with tuberculosis. Nigeria is also a high burden country for multi-drug resistant tuberculosis and HIV.
Dr. Azinge disclosed that Delta State is one of the 22 high-burden states for tuberculosis and multi-drug resistant tuberculosis and that the State Ministry of Health notified 2,235 new cases of tuberculosis in the year 2016.
He lamented that this figure still falls far short of the estimated over 14,000 tuberculosis cases living with us as over 100 cases of multi-drug resistant tuberculosis have been notified in Delta State till date.
The commissioner revealed that tuberculosis is caused by the bacteria “mcobacterium tuberculosis,” that most often affect the lungs. Tuberculosis, he added, is curable and preventable and that it is spread from person to person when infected persons cough, sneeze or spit, as these acts propel the tuberculosis germs into the air.
He said about one-third of the world’s population has latent tuberculosis, which means people have been affected by tuberculosis bacteria but are not (yet) ill with the disease and also cannot transmit the disease. One out of every 10 persons infected with the tuberculosis bacteria will fall ill with tuberculosis. However, persons 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, he said.
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