Wendywood Clinic encourages early testing and treatment adherence to beat TB
Wendywood Clinic commemorate World TB Day with a call for early testing and full treatment, as many patients quit medication too soon.
Early detection and strict treatment adherence were at the centre of the conversation at Wendywood Clinic’s World TB Day commemoration event.
Healthcare workers and community members gathered at the clinic on March 26 to confront the ongoing challenge of tuberculosis (TB).
Speaking at the event, TB nurse Feluca Letsoalo shifted the focus from awareness alone to action, saying that while TB was curable, delayed diagnosis and not adhering to treatment procedures continued to cost lives.
Read more: Wendywood Clinic commemorates World TB Day with focus on early detection
Letsoalo explained that TB was an airborne disease spread through coughing and sneezing, making personal hygiene critical in preventing the transmission.
“We must stop coughing with our mouths widely open to prevent the spread of germs and those close to us.”
She added that the most common signs of TB included night sweats, persistent cough, weight loss, loss of appetite, fatigue and coughing up blood at times.
“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 of TB.”
Letsoalo said the most common were pulmonary TB, which affected the lungs and TB meningitis, which affected the spinal cord and brain.
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She raised concerns about the patients who took treatment for only a few months, and when they started feeling better, they stopped taking the medication. Letsoalo emphasised that standard TB treatment takes six months, but more complex cases require up to 12 months.
“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, some people 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 encouraged anyone experiencing symptoms to visit the clinic for testing. “If you come to the clinic and say, I’m coughing, I’ve got loss of 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’re having TB or not.”
She advised patients to maintain a balanced diet with more fruit, vegetables and protein while avoiding junk food that may worsen medication side effects.
“We need to try to eat healthy, have spinach and proteins. Don’t forget your fruit, and don’t forget lots of water. Especially because the treatment might change your urine to an orange, reddish colour.”
“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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