TB prevalence more serious in F/town
Pini Bothoko | Friday February 21, 2014 16:19
Statistics released by DHMT showed high numbers of infections and also numbers of those patients who have passed away, those who have defaulted, infection rate and failure rate.
TB Coordinator Doctor Makabe was speaking at a workshop held to sensitise Francistown community leaders on Wednesday.
Makabe said that the situation was serious because besides numbers of registered cases there were other elements that affected the cases that end up working against effective treatment of TB patients.
Makabe said that as of January 2014 they have registered 44 cases in all and two of Multi-Drug Resistant (MDR) in Francistown.
Makabe said that already it showed that the numbers were higher compared to statistics registered from 2011 to 2013.
“In 2011 we registered 392 cases, in 2012, 368 cases and in 2013, 297 cases,” he said.
Makabe said that the numbers would make one think that the situation has improved but many factors affect the final outcome after registration.
He said that normal TB is 100 percent curable but many factors are playing against that purpose which is why they now want to intensify the public education on TB.
Makabe added that there were several things that they look into after registering cases such as success rate, cure rate, infection rate, defaulter rate, death rate and failure rate.
He said that these are factors that affect cases.
“Success rate is how we are able to manage patients and that treatment was taken and though we cannot ascertain that the patient has been cured and cure rate is when he can confidently stand and say that the patient has been cured of the TB,” he said.
On the cases that they had from 2011 to 2013, Makabe said that they had success rate and cure rate.
“Of the 392 cases of 2011 we had a success rate of 341 and a cure rate of 83, in 2012 of 368 registered cases we had 287 success rate, but 54 cure rate and in 2013 there were 297 cases registered, a success rate of 88 and cure rate of 24,” he said.
Makabe said that the number of people who are missing could be anywhere.
“They could be among the MDR, they could be dead or they could be anywhere,” he said.
He further highlighted that people who are HIV positive have a 10 percent chance of a yearly infection from TB because of their compromised immune system.
He added that those who are HIV negative have a 10 percent chance of getting TB in a lifetime.
“Of the 392 people registered in 2011, 260 were HIV positive, in 2012, 262 were HIV positive and in 2013, 209 were HIV positive and this calls for each and every person to know their status,” he said.
He said after they have registered cases they also face issues of defaulters, which also affect the whole outcome of a case. He said that in the past three years of 2011, 2012 and 2013, 36 people have defaulted.
He said that 89 have died and in 42 of the patients the treatment failed for various reasons.
He said that TB should be treated seriously because it is a communicable disease and poses a danger to other people, not only the patient.