Wendywood Clinic commemorates World TB Day with focus on early detection
TB nurse Feluca Letsoalo warned that patients stopping treatment too soon remains a major challenge, despite tuberculosis being curable.
Health workers and community members gathered at Wendywood Clinic to commemorate World TB Day, focusing on education, prevention and the importance of early detection in the fight against tuberculosis (TB).
Held on March 26, the session was with Feluca Letsoalo, TB Nurse at the clinic. She emphasised that the day is not about celebrating TB but about raising awareness among the public about the curable disease, which continues to take lives.
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Letsoalo explained that TB is an airborne disease spread through coughing and sneezing, making personal hygiene critical in preventing the transmission.
“We spread TB through cough, sneeze, so we must be very, very careful how we conduct ourselves. We must stop coughing with our mouths wide open to prevent the spread of germs and those close to us.”
She added that the most common signs of TB include night sweats, persistent cough, weight loss, loss of appetite, fatigue and coughing up blood at times. However, she cautioned that not all patients experience similar symptoms.
“Not everyone experiences all those signs. Some will tell you I’m losing weight, but I’m not coughing. I get tired, but I’m not coughing. It also depends on what TB, because you’ve got different types. The most common is the one affecting the lungs, pulmonary TB. And we’ve got TB meningitis, which affects the spinal cord and brain.”
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Letsoalo encouraged the event attendees to come to the clinic if they are not feeling well and are not sure of the cause of the sickness.
“If you come and say, I’m coughing, I’ve lost weight, loss of appetite, night sweats, the first thing that we do is we collect your sputum. Through the sputum, we can tell if you’ve got TB or not. Unless it’s something else, then we use X-rays and other investigations.”
A key focus of her talk was treatment adherence. Letsoalo said the standard TB treatment is six months, but more complex forms of TB may require nine to 12 months of medication.
“We take TB treatment for six months, depending on how complex your TB is. If they say you’ve got TB meningitis, we give you treatment for 12 months.”
She added that the disease can be cured if people follow their treatment plan consistently. “TB can be cured as long as you come to the clinic early, detect it early, get treated and then you adhere to treatment.”
“In most cases, there are people who take treatment for a month or two, and when they start seeing the difference, such as gaining weight, then they stop taking treatment, and then it shows them flames.”
Letsoalo also addressed nutrition, advising patients to maintain a balanced diet with smaller meals, especially when not feeling well. She encouraged the consumption of fruits, vegetables, more proteins and drinking a lot of water.
“Don’t forget lots of water. Especially because the treatment might change your urine to an orange, reddish colour.”
Closing her address, Letsoalo called on the community to support one another in identifying and addressing TB symptoms early. “If you’ve got a neighbour coughing, losing weight and or having night sweats, encourage them to get tested because this thing can be beaten easily. Together we can fight TB.”
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