A SOFT breeze swept the
orchard and dry leaves and twigs rustled softly on the ground. A squish squash sound of car wipers
could be heard in the stillness of Mother Nature.
The calmness was due to Monalisa’s cough that seemed to have
stopped for an hour after she had gulped the cough mixture she had accustomed
herself with each time she felt the urge.
On this day, Monalisa had decided to visit her medical doctor with
the intention of getting “stronger medicine” for the unending wracking coughs.
When Monalisa’s doctor came to the conclusion that she should have
a sputum test for Tuberculosis, Monalisa was visibly put out.
“I don’t have TB, are you crazy? I will just test to prove you
wrong,” Monalisa blurted out.
The professed ignorance was a result of Monalisa’s “social status”
that whispered “Hell no, not me.”
The sputum test was done and Monalisa was encouraged to come back
and collect her results after three days.
Her drive home was unbearable as she was now feeling weak and she
was seized with intermittent painful coughing.
Her chest felt like it was on fire.
Three days turned into a week and a week into two but Monalisa saw
no need to go and collect her results.
At the doctor’s office the results were already in and they were
positive.
She was not on treatment and had just disappeared and this worried
the doctor.
“It is one of the many problems that health practitioners are
faced with when dealing with cases like HIV or TB testing. There is a fear that
is attached to receiving the results. Most people are afraid of the outcome,” a
medical practitioner said.
“What you don’t know won’t kill you.” That is my friend’s motto.
Well, what you don’t know might actually kill you.
Medical personnel tracked down Monalisa using the information they
had received from her doctor.
She was immediately put on treatment and after six months she was
as fit as a fiddle,
MYTH: “I thought TB was a disease for the poor,” Monalisa had told
her doctor.
Given her social status Monalisa lived a very comfortable life and
had more than enough.
Not only that, Monalisa lived in one of the most affluent suburbs
in the capital.
FACT: Anybody can have TB despite their “social status”.
You can live “kumachonyonyo” (back of beyond) or in the leafy
suburbs, but left untreated, an active tuberculosis infection can spread throughout
the body and result in serious damage to the lungs and other vital organs. If
untreated Tuberculosis is fatal.
We all need to be on common
ground, TB is not a death sentence. You can be the richest man in the world and
have it. TB is easy to treat and
treatment in Zimbabwe
Most people have latent or
“silent” TB.
“Latent tuberculosis is where a patient is infected with Mycobacterium tuberculosis, but
does not have active tuberculosis disease. Patients with latent tuberculosis
are not infectious, and it is not possible to get TB from someone with latent
tuberculosis,” the medical practitioner continued.
People with active tuberculosis may appear sick and have symptoms.
This is particularly true if there is development of a disease affecting the immune system
(eg HIV), a disease whose treatment affects the immune system (such as chemotherapy
in cancer or systemic steroids in asthma), or in circumstances resulting in
malnutrition (such as illness or injury affecting the digestive system,
or prolonged period of not eating, or disturbance in availability such as
famine, residence in refugee camp or concentration camp, or civil war).
The identification and treatment of people with latent TB is an
important part of controlling this disease. THE UNAIDS strategy goal by 2015 is
to see TB deaths among people living with HIV reduced by half. Tuberculosis is
a leading cause of illness and death for people living with HIV with the
majority of people living with HIV and TB found in Sub Saharan Africa.
TB places a heavy burden on people living with HIV including
significant illness that requires at a minimum six months of treatment, with
the associated economic costs to the individual, his or her family and the
health-care system.
UNAIDS calls for effectively integrating delivery of services for
HIV and tuberculosis, nutritional support in all settings, as well as continued
innovation of TB diagnostic and treatments options.
Risk factors for TB include
the following:
HIV Infection
Other Risk factors include:
- low socioeconomic status,
- homelessness,
- crowded living conditions,
- diseases that weaken the immune system,
- migration from a country with a high number of
cases,
We are now in a
season when we experience very cold weather conditions.
Most people tend
to close all windows for warmth even in public transport, private cars, offices
and many other places.
Make it a point
to open all windows and allow the free flow of air.
If you are living
with some who has active TB, they cannot pass it on to you if they start
treatment, hence the need for one to test for TB.
Sometimes at
funerals people sleep in one big room and close all the windows while they are
closely packed like sardines.
When coughing, it
is also very important to cover your mouth.
SYMPTOMS
You may not notice any symptoms of the disease
until it is quite advanced. Even then, the symptoms loss of weight, loss of
energy, poor appetite, fever,
a productive cough,
and night sweats might easily be blamed on another disease.
- Only about 10% of people infected with latent tuberculosis
never develop active tuberculosis. Many of those who suffer TB do so in
the first few years following infection, but the bacillus may lie dormant
in the body for decades.
- Although most initial infections have no symptoms
and people overcome them, they may develop fever, dry cough, and
abnormalities that may be seen on a chest X-ray.
Generally the return of dormant
tuberculosis infection occurs in the upper lungs. Symptoms include
v
Common
cough with a progressive increase in production of mucus and coughing up blood.
v
fever,
v
loss
of appetite,
v
weight
loss, and
v
night sweats.
v
Some people
may develop tuberculosis in an organ other than their lungs. Most of these
people usually had known TB with inadequate treatment. The most common sites
include the following:
v
lymph
nodes,
v
genitourinary
tract,
v
bone
and joint sites,
v
meninges,
and
v
the
lining covering the outside of the gastrointestinal
tract
A relative of
mine started bleeding heavily and most people suspected that she had fibroids.
It was after she began expelling chunks of flesh from her womb that we sought
medical treatment. It was discovered that she had TB and it was in her womb. She
was put on TB treatment and seemed to be doing well but the disease returned.
She was put back on treatment and made a full recovery.
Knowledge is
power, get tested for TB.
DO IT NOW!
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