TB remains the world’s deadliest infectious killer, claiming 18 Nigerian lives every hour and nearly 4,500 lives globally everyday.
The Lagos State Ministry of Health recently disclosed that over 80 per cent of TB cases in the state are yet to be diagnosed.
According to the ministry, surveys have shown that Nigeria has an average of about 10.4 million cases of tuberculosis, making her the country with the highest tuberculosis burden in Africa.
Although, the 2018 Global TB report revealed that Nigeria contributes about nine per cent to the global 4.3 million missing TB cases, coming behind only India and Indonesia with 26 per cent and 11 per cent respectively.
The report indicates that an estimated 418,000 new TB cases occurred in Nigeria in 2018 and the country notified 104,904 (25 per cent) and 106,533 cases of TB in 2017 and 2018 respectively, giving a gap of 314,712 and 319,599 cases yet to be notified respectively.
This implies that a large number of undetected/missing TB cases constitute a pool of reservoir for the continuous transmission of diseases in the community. These missing TB cases can be found among men, women and children with different forms including drug resistance TB and has the potential of infecting 10-15 million persons each year.
To read the full article, click here.
Source: The Guardian