Tuberculosis: The silent killer disease !!!
Many have it, yet they do not know until the grim ripper strike silently and it’s deadly.
Many are walking about with it, but they don’t have the idea, and sadly, it makes them look walking corpse.
Many are dying by installment yet they have no clue that they are walking to their graves every second of everyday with the ailment.
Unlike an adage which says; “What one do not know cannot kill someone, but unfortunately, this, kills when not known and especially when the signs and symptoms are not forth showing.
A young woman in her early 50’s narrated how she lost her husband at the age of 41 when he died at the age of 49 as a result of Tuberculousis which perhaps would have been treated at a no cost rate.
According to her, the death certificate of her husband revealed the cause of her husband’s death to what is known as Pulmonary Knocks, a name better referred simply to as Tuberculosis.
She was devastated and amazed not believing what she read on the death certificate and she began to ask questions why and moreso when the major cough symptoms of Tuberculosis was not registered till he passed on.
Narrating her ordeal, as educated as the husband was, he never had that instinct that his ailment could have been traced to Tuberculousis while he was being treated for other sicknesses till he passed on.
World Tuberculosis Day is celebrated on March 24 each year to raise public awareness and understanding about the World’s deadliest infectious killer—tuberculosis (TB)—and it’s the devastating health, social and economic impact on people around the world.
On March 24th, in 1882 was when Dr Robert Koch announced that he had discovered the bacterium that causes TB, which opened the way towards diagnosing and curing the deadly disease.
TB still claims thousands of lives on a daily basis while many other thousands fall ill with this deadly but preventable and curable disease.
Experts have been clamouring and advocating the need for all and sundry to conduct a normal routine check up of their health status mostly when treating an ailment that refuses to go or reoccurring, saying it may be Tuberculosis and should not be given the chance to thrive.
Tuberculosis has been described as an airborne desease which makes it a communicable and more common in man than women in Nigeria not leaving out Ondo state.
The risk factor of Tuberculosis centers around malnutrition, HIV, Diabetes and having close contact with person’s with Tuberculosis and this could be diagnosed through sputum test for pulmonary tuberculosis, Chest X-Ray, stool test in children of between the ages of 0-14years old.
Tuberculosis treatment is free in all the hospitals and is treated with oral medication which runs for a minimum period of six months and a person who is on consistent Tuberculousis medication for at least three weeks could no longer be infectious.
Drug resistant Tuberculosis occurs when treatment is not well adhered to and can also occur when someone is infected directly by someone with drug resistant Tuberculosis .
Early detection of Tuberculosis saves lives as it is recommended that those who experienced cough for over two weeks, unexplained noticeable weight lost , excessive sweating at night and persistent fever are recommended to go for Tuberculosis test.
Speaking in a Radio programme titled : ‘Talking point’ anchored by Lanre Gboroye, the Ondo state Tuberculosis Programme Manager of the state Ministry of Health, Mrs Foyinsola Olumagba said the disease can affect anybody and any part of the body which is largely dominant in Nigeria and Ondo state .
“lt is treatable and can be cured. It can be contacted from one person to another because it is an airborne disease because once an infected person sneezes or coughs out to the air, the air moves the bacteria and when someone with low immune system inhales it, such individual will be effected,” she said.
While explaining the different types of Tuberculosis, Olumagba identified what she called Pulmonary Tuberculosis and Extra Pulmonary tuberculosis.
The pulmonary tuberculosis has to do with affecting the upper respiratory tract of the human beings which comes with signs and symptoms of cough and they can produce sputum for testing .
For the extra Pulmonary tuberculosis, it affects any part of the body like the brain, spine, the bones, phalanges, lymph nodes and even the intestines.
She disclosed that most patients with extra Pulmonary might not cough but with other signs and symptoms of Tuberculosis like not thriving, weight loss, fever and fatigue.
According to the expert, Extra Pulmonary patient are difficult to diagonise and most times before they are identified, they might have gone through other diagnosis because people do not pick it up that it is tuberculosis because they hardly cough.
But however, they must have other signs and symptoms.
Olumagba said presumptive TB client can be diagnosed clinically or bacteriologically collecting samples through the affected part or by conducting a Chest X-ray or stool by children.
For which ever age that might have been diagnosed for tuberculosis would be treated and get cured as paediatric kits are used to treat childhood tuberculosis of between the ages of 0-14years old while the adult kit is used to treat adults from 15 years above.
Joining hands to get rid of the menace is of utmost importance to curb untimely death caused by this killer disease.
Watch out for that silent killer and keep the tempo of this year’s tuberculosis day celebration slogan: ‘ No gree for TB ooo and making the theme: ‘ Yes! We can end TB’ become a household name among us all.
