Residents of Kano State are on high alert as the state continues to record a high number of patients under treatment with the state government disclosing that the figure hit 8,820 in the last two weeks.
With the surge in recorded cases, Daily Trust Saturday observed that most residents have increased their consumption of bitter kola with the belief that it acts as a supplement that helps prevent the highly contagious disease.
But medical experts have warned that only drugs prescribed for the treatment of TB should be used, noting that no scientific evidence to support the claims that bitter kola helped prevent it.
Recall that Daily Trust Saturday reported that the state government earlier said the 8,277 patients on TB treatment it had last week was the highest quarterly TB notification ever in Nigeria. It added earlier this week that the figure had risen to 8,820, with 41,056 persons screened across the state during its TB testing week.
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The Commissioner for health, Dr Abubakar Labaran Yusuf, who spoke at the close out of the 2023 National TB Testing Week in Kano, said, “During the testing week alone, we screened over 41,056, diagnosed and placed on TB treatment 238 people, including 44 children. Also, we placed 305 patients on TB prevention treatment.”
He highlighted that Kano State being the most populous state in Nigeria and one of the five high TB burden states, the TB burden stood at 34,547; which represented expected notification of 8,637 TB patients per quarter and in just one week, TB patients which represented 96 per cent of the total burden had been placed on TB treatment.
He said the government had launched a community outreach facility in Tarauni LGA as a step for continued reach out to the grassroots, while calling on all the teeming population of Kano to go to the nearest health facility and get screened for TB as the routine TB interventions would continue across the state.
The commissioner further revealed that the state government, in collaboration with its partners, had been doing a lot towards ending the TB burden and transmission, which included expansion of the diagnostic equipment to cover distant communities; deployment of mobile screening tools and machines for screening and diagnosis and training of healthcare workers on TB diagnosis, treatment and reporting.
Other efforts are continuous awareness creation in collaboration with media outlets, sustenance of TB services in correctional facilities, military barracks, police, immigration, customs barracks and tertiary institutions, expansion of TB diagnosis and treatment services to more private health facilities and enhanced collaboration with all partners, Community-Based Organisations (CBOs) Civil Society Organisations (CSOs), professional associations, as well as traditional and religious leaders.
Speaking with Daily Trust, some residents of Fagge, where the Infectious Diseases Hospital (IDH) is situated, said they had been living in fear since the news came out.
Abdullahi Musa, a father of seven, told our reporter that he had been living in fear of infectious diseases for years.
He said, “You know, diseases like the ones treated in this hospital; most of them are highly communicable to the extent that some can be transmitted through the air.
“I have a house just a few metres away from the fence of the hospital. I and my seven children are always at risk, thus I am very cautious of their movement and have cautioned them and my wife to be very observant.
“In fact, if today I have the chance to move out of this place, I will. The hospital is in the midst of a commercial and residential area.”
Safiyanu Isah, who sells shoes by the roadside, said he had always opined that the choice of location for the hospital was wrong.
He said, “Look at the special diseases hospital like the skin-related one at Bella, it is far away from the city because of the nature of ailments treated there.
“I will advise the government to at least relocate it somewhere because honestly, we are here every day.
“Don’t forget, it is a commercial and busy area, if you are bringing an emergency, everything can happen on the way. For the TB outbreak, we are vigilant and hopeful that it will stop from that number.”
Some of the residents also confirmed that they had been consuming bitter kola in higher volumes recently as there was the belief that it was highly medicinal, especially for treating TB, cough and other related infectious diseases.
At every traffic point, hawkers could be seen advertising bitter kola, with motorists buying in large quantities.
“With this, no infectious disease will take over your immune system. This is a very highly recommended medicine since the days of our forefathers and is still very effective,” one of the hawkers, Malam Ali, said.
Sold at the rate of N100 per one, but in some places N50, the sellers of the bitter cola say they were now making brisk business.
“In a day I make at least N2000 to N3000 from selling bitter kola. No business here makes that amount as profit alone,” said another hawker at a traffic point on Maiduguri Road.
But the state’s Programme Manager for TB, Dr Ibrahim Aliyu Umar, warned that only anti-TB drugs should be taken to treat the disease.
“Tuberculosis disease which has a manifestation of cough, fever and weight loss has only treatment based on the medicine from what we provide as TB drugs. There are no other means of treatment apart from those drugs that we provide, and no other concoction like maybe the bitter cola or whatever that people can say cures TB. The treatment for TB are anti-TB drugs.
“These drugs are four in number. As far as TB is concerned, there are no other benefits from eating bitter kola. It can even be a danger because you have one problem and you are taking another thing for medication; which is a wrong medication, because TB drugs are only meant for the disease.
“It is not in line with any scientific evidence and medical practice. So, we advise people not to take any other thing not only for TB but any other cough and treatment of TB is even free,” he clarified.
Why TB is now prevalent –Consultant
While the disease can be said to be prevalent and peculiar in a society, Dr Shu’aibu Musa, a consultant of infectious diseases, highlighted the signs, symptoms and why TB is so alarming at this point, while giving precautionary measures.
He said, “It is a very old disease which has been there since time immemorial, and the signs and symptoms of the disease in children after contact with an infected person include weight loss, prolonged fever for two weeks or more, cough, productive spit that has blood in it and then what we call drenching night sweat. You sweat as if they pour water on you.
“Of course, in children also, there will be a lack of vaccination for TB. If you know, you will see that it resembles the signs and symptoms of many other diseases.”
On why Kano has recorded almost 9,000 cases in two weeks, Dr Musa said it was because the state is over populated, and if you know about the disease, tuberculosis thrives where there is overcrowding and congested and poor situations.
He explained that, “The resurgence of TB in Kano is not surprising because there is a worsening economic situation; making people remain in a very poor and dilapidated overcrowded environment, and of course children are particularly at risk while they are poorly nourished. This can be responsible.
“While population, overcrowding is one factor, increased poverty is another one, and as well as the hunger in the land, can all be responsible for this.”
He added that it was also possible for someone to have contracted the disease without manifesting any of the known symptoms.
Plans underway for mega isolation centre – Govt
When asked about the condition and location of the Infectious Diseases Hospital (IDH), the Commissioner for Health said that, “The government is doing its best to establish a centre with the capacity of about 200 beds on the outskirts of the state which will be used as an isolation centre.
“Any person affected with TB, the moment he starts taking medication, he no longer has any positive effect on the public. Apart from that, that’s why we don’t encourage visits to the hospital.”
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