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Cameroon: Despite Free Treatment, TB Infection Still High
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The Post (Buea)
30 March 2008
Posted to the web 31 March 2008
Chris Mbunwe, Francis Tim Mbom and Elvis Tah
Cameroon joined the rest of the world on Monday, March 24, to commemorate World Tuberculosis Day under the theme "I am Stopping TB."
This year's World TB Day focused on the efforts of frontline TB care providers and their crucial role in stopping TB. It was also designed to build public awareness that tuberculosis remains an epidemic in much of the world.
Tuberculosis is the leading cause of death among HIV infected people and it is being compounded by the HIV/AIDS pandemic. There are several important associations between epidemics of HIV and tuberculosis: it is harder to diagnose tuberculosis in HIV positive people;
it progresses faster in HIV-infected people; it is more likely to be fatal if undiagnosed or left untreated; it occurs earlier in the course of HIV infection than other opportunistic infections and it is the only major AIDS-related opportunistic infection that poses a risk to HIV-negative people.
In Cameroon, despite government's efforts towards providing free treatment and other cost-cutting measures, statistics from medical officials show that the rate of tuberculosis (TB) infection is still not dropping.
The District Medical Officer for Limbe, Dr. Matilda Manjo, said the prevalence rate in the Southwest has risen from 555 in 2002 to 1,727 in 2007.
Manjo stated that though the detection rate has been increasing, the objective of attaining an 85 percent cure rate has not been possible. She stated that this has been due largely to patients' none compliance with treatment. The Medical Officer stated that the rate of patients defaulting treatment since 2002 to 2007 has ranged from 15 percent to 22 percent.
The Director of the HIV/AIDS Treatment Centre at the Limbe Provincial Hospital, Dr. Wilfred Akam, told The Post that the rate of TB is on the rise because it has a direct relationship with HIV/AIDS. He said since the rate of the HIV/AIDS infection is not falling, that of TB has also been on a steady rise.
From October to December of 2007, statistics from the hospital showed that some 111 TB cases were received with 68 tested HIV positive. Besides, people from 25 to 34 years accounted for the highest number of TB cases.
The Southwest Provincial Supervisor of the National Tuberculosis Control Programme, Victor Wane Tarcisius, affirmed that about 40 percent of Southwest denizens live with TB and HIV/AIDS.
Wane said the National Tuberculosis Control Programme is on a campaign to discover and fight against TB in the Province by screening and giving free treatments to TB and HIV/AIDS.
Wane said they are also using the campaign to supply drugs to all the treatment centres in the Province and to train all the personnel in the 17 diagnosis and 16 treatment centres.
He said as per 2007 results, there were 1730 patients on treatment, 1008 were suffering from pulmonary TB while 722 had extra-pulmonary TB or smear negative.
He added that out of 10,000 Cameroonians, there are about 75 pulmonary TB patients. He said pulmonary TB is very dangerous and added that Limbe had the highest prevalence rate, followed by Buea.
Northwest Tops TB Infection Chart
When The Post accosted the TB Programme Manager for the Northwest Province, Dr. Leo Njock Ayuk, he said the Province occupies the first position in TB infection because most of our patients are co-infected with TB and HIV.
It would be recalled that the Northwest topped the HIV/AIDS chart in 2004.In an exclusive interview with The Post on Tuesday, March 25, Dr. Ayuk revealed that last year, 2,246 TB cases were diagnosed and treated recording a death rate of 12 percent, which he said is the highest in the country.
He said TB/HIV/AIDS co-infectional rate stands at 68 percent."That is why systematically, we screen all patients diagnosed with TB for HIV and all patients diagnosed with HIV, we screen for TB too," said Ayuk.
The doctor said TB is related to HIV/AIDS - cellular immunity - that is "what we call TB infection and TB disease. TB infection is that you have been in contact with the TB bacilli, but you are not manifesting the disease, because you don't have the signs and symptoms of the disease. When your immune system is still very strong, it can circumscribe the infection.
On the other hand, when the immune system fails because of one reason or the other, TB emerges. Among the diseases that can break down the immune system and permit TB infection is HIV/AIDS."
What Causes TB
It is an infectious and contagious air-borne disease caused by an organism called mycobacterium tuberculosis which attacks any part of the body, but most commonly the lungs.
The bacterium is transmitted into the air through talking, singing, sneezing or coughing. Anybody who breathes the bad air can be infected.
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Treatment
TB can be prevented with the vaccination of children at birth with the BCG vaccine. Besides, patients with early symptoms are advised to visit the nearest treatment centre for diagnosis and free treatment. In Bamenda, for instance, there are 21 TB treatment centres.
In his concluding remarks, Dr. Ayuk appealed to everyone to put into practice this year's theme: "I am Stopping TB."
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