Tuberculosis: Medical expert urges nursing mothers to give their children BCG

Tuberculosis

Tuberculosis

Tuberculosis

Jethro Ibileke/Benin

Nursing mothers have been charged to join the fight against the spread of tuberculosis infection by submitting their children for Baccilus Calment Guerin Vaccine (BCG).

The Director of Disease Control, Edo State Ministry of Health, Dr. Osamwonyi Irowa, gave the charge in Benin City, at an event where he was conferred with a corporate membership award by the Nigerian Institute of Character Education (NICE), for his selfless and committed service to humanity.

Speaking against the backdrop of a recent report that Nigeria loses one person to tuberculosis every hour, Irowa said it was due to lack of proper diagnosis on the part of the patients, adding that lack of proper management of the disease could lead to death.

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According to him, “Tuberculosis is a chronic lung air-borne killer disease that has been in our society for decades, and when you pick out the prevalent and the statistics, divide by numbers of days and months in the year you will be able to work out how many persons died in a year either per day or second.”

Dr. Irowa however disclosed that the disease is no longer as deadly as it was because the drugs are now more effective due to government’s intervention.

“The duration of treatment is no longer one year and drugs are provided in very simple form for people to easily use rather than making it for them to swallow,” he said.

He urged nursing mothers to visit health centers rather than going to chemists​ or pharmacists’ shops for direct drugs purchase.

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