Tuberculosis In Children, How To Prevent It

Tuberculosis (TB) is an air borne disease, that is mostly common in male, Lagos state team lead, USAID IHVN TB LON 3 Project, Dr Babajide Kadiri, told LEADERSHIP.

Children are not exempted, as they are at risk of getting TB, especially those living with adults who have TB; those who are HIV positive and children who are malnourished, Kadiri averred.

Kadiri disclosed that TB of the lung is the most common type, while emphasizing that the disease can occur anywhere in the body. Sadly, only 25 per cent of Nigerians have knowledge about TB, the team lead said, even as he disclosed that people who should go for treatment are those who have cough that have lasted for two weeks or longer, unexplained/noticeable weight loss, excessive sweating at night and persistent low fever.

Speaking on the signs and symptoms of TB in children, Kadiri said unexplained consistent weight loss in children could be as a result of TB, failure to thrive or gain weight, persistent fever, cough of two weeks, and close contact with anyone with TB like caregiver, nanny, etc.

He lamented that there is low childhood TB awareness among the general population, adding that poor health-seeking behavior, stigma and discrimination, limited media engagement in TB awareness creation, low index of suspicion for child TB by healthcare providers and low funding for childhood TB control, are challenges that marred TB diagnosis and treatment in children.

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Kadiri said that the diagnosis for TB was mainly the sputum test for pulmonary TB, Chest X-ray and Stool test in children, adding that TB treatment included oral medications for a minimum of six months.

He said drug resistant TB ((MDR TB) could occur when TB treatment was not well adhered to and could also occur when someone was infected directly by someone with (MDR TB).

He advised that regular sensitisation of the general population on TB in children and collaboration with the media would help in TB prevention, control and management.

Speaking on what National Tuberculosis, Leprosy and Buruli Ulcer Control Programme (NTBLCP) are doing to control TB in children, Kadiri said NTBLCP has embarked on rapid diagnostic tests for TB in children

Stool for Xpert, Truenat, TB LAMP, urine Lateral-Flow Lipoarabinomannan assay for PLHIV with advanced disease; active TB case finding (e.g. outreaches) in communities across 24 states; task shifting for other HCWs to diagnosis child TB in hard to reach areas;

support for contact investigation (CI) of diagnosed TB cases; training of health care workers so they can promptly diagnose TB in children, free chest x-ray and transport voucher to support children TB diagnosis.

He disclosed that the Lagos state NTBLCP, is organizing the National Tuberculosis Testing Week for Children from the 22nd to 26th of May, 2023, across Nigeria, free of charge.