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Kenya: Experts Sound Alarm Bells Over Deadly Strain of Drug-Resistant TB
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The Nation (Nairobi)
27 March 2008
Posted to the web 26 March 2008
Mike Mwaniki
Nairobi
As Kenya on Thursday commemorates the World Tuberculosis Day, health experts have warned about a deadly strain of the highly infectious disease.
It will cost up to Sh1.3 million to treat one case of the multi-drug-resistant TB compared to Sh6,000 for treatment of an "ordinary" case of the disease.
Patients undergoing treatment for the disease are expected to be injected daily for the first six months before completing their treatment in two years compared to the six months it takes to treat the other strains.
About 289 cases of multi-drug-resistant TB had been detected in the last six years. According to experts, this form of TB does not respond to the standard treatments using first-line drugs like Rifampicin and Isoniazid.
Addressing a press conference at his Afya House office in Nairobi last week, the Director of Medical Services, Dr James Nyikal said: "When resistance emerges to the major TB drugs, we're forced to go back to using older less effective ones.
Expensive treatment
"This means a much longer and expensive treatment course while also relying on drugs that are toxic with serious side effects".
Last year, 116,723 cases of TB were detected in the country compared to 115,234 in 2006. The new figures indicated a seven per cent increase.
In 2004 for example, Kenya was ranked 10th among the 22 countries which account for about 80 per cent of the world's TB cases. Locally, the disease causes an estimated 74,000 deaths each year - which translates to an average of 200 deaths a day.
Globally, the highly infectious but curable disease, kills about two million people each year and is spread through coughing and sneezing.
Following the increasing cases of the disease, the Government declared TB a national emergency in 2006 and blamed it on rapid urban population growth, overcrowding in slums and prisons and malnutrition.
The TB, Leprosy and Lung Diseases division head, Dr Joseph Sitienei, blames the Aids epidemic for the rise in TB cases because it weakens the immune system.
"The daily death toll from TB is similar to three bus loads of passengers crashing every day... But because a majority of those who die are poor and voiceless, their deaths go largely unnoticed," Dr Sitienei said.
According to him, the Government planned to involve communities in the fight against TB.
Dr Sitienei identified Nairobi, Coast, Nyanza and North Eastern provinces as some of the areas with the highest incidents of TB in the country.
"The Health Ministry is encouraging communities to report any people suspected to be infected by the disease.
"This is the only way we can bring the cases down since the disease is curable whether an individual is an Aids patient or not," he said.
TB affects all parts of the body except the hair, teeth and nails.
"The disease affects all age groups but 80 per cent of the cases occur among 15 to 44 year-olds. Men are more vulnerable to infection compared to women.
Globally, the World TB Day was marked on March 24 but health officials in Kenya pushed their celebrations to today since Monday was a public holiday.
The theme for this year is: "I'm Stopping TB".
Speaking during a press conference held last week, Dr Nyikal said the Government had set up isolation wards and treatment facilities for the new strain at Kenyatta National and Moi Teaching and Referral hospitals. A total of 21 patients were already on treatment at the hospitals.
Meanwhile, the World Health Organisation (WHO) says TB continues to be a threat to the developed and developing world alike.
A report released last week by the organisation, titled "Global Tuberculosis Control 2008", concluded that global efforts to combat the disease had slowed in recent years, causing WHO to call for renewed commitment to fighting tuberculosis around the world.
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The emergence of new, drug resistant strains of tuberculosis is of particular concern. Of the 9.2 million new cases of TB in 2006, WHO estimates that 500,000 were of the deadly strain.
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