Mpuma has scary TB record

2004-08-19 12:55

Thandee N'wa Mhangwana

Nelspruit - Mpumalanga has the highest incidence of multi-drug resistant tuberculosis (TB) in the country, says chief director of the province's hospital services, Dr Keith Michaels.

This means that a growing number of people in the province no longer respond to the standard course of TB medication.

"This is because most patients never complete their treatment when they first get the disease so, when they get TB again, their bodies are resistant to the medication," he explains.

Those who have multi-drug resistant TB then have to be treated for two years, instead of just six months.

They are also hospitalised for the first year to prevent them from spreading the multi-resistant form of the disease to other people.

Normal TB patients follow the Directly Observed Treatment Strategy (DOTS), in which a supervisor is appointed to ensure the patient takes the full course of the medication.

The supervisor could be a neighbour, a school principal, pastor, a parent or a volunteer, who promises to keep an eye on the patient on a daily bases and remind them to take their medication for six months.

Alternatively, patients can collect their medication every day from the hospital or clinics where they take their medication under supervision.

Michaels says some supervisors grow tired of reminding the patients or the patients disappear without a trace before completing their treatment.

He said the health department was planning to train volunteers to understand the importance of patients completing the treatment.

"The training will incorporate home based care for HIV infected people, and also training about TB," says Michaels.

Some eight million cases of TB reported each year, resulting in three million deaths.

Symptoms include a recurring cough that persists for at least two weeks, weight loss, night sweats, tiredness and coughing up blood.

- African Eye