Nairobi: The fight against tuberculosis (TB) at Narok County Referral Hospital has received a significant boost with the acquisition of advanced diagnostic tools to help in easier and faster diagnosis.
According to Kenya News Agency, Mr. Micah Cheburet, though the burden for TB, TB/HIV, and Drug-Resistant TB (DR TB) still remains high, it is not all doom and gloom.
Mr. Cheburet stated that health personnel in the devolved unit now have an edge in the hard-to-treat form of tuberculosis following the adoption of advanced lung disease diagnostic equipment obtained through support from the national government and development partners. According to the World Health Organization, Kenya is one of the 30 countries globally with the majority (at least 80 percent) of TB cases.
Mr. Cheburet explained that due to the deployment of advanced diagnostic equipment, 1,556 cases of drug-susceptible tuberculosis and 11 cases of drug-resistant tuberculosis were diagnosed in Narok last year, and patients were put on treatment. Currently, in Narok, for every 100,000 people, there is a 146 prevalence of tuberculosis cases.
In an interview with Kenya News Agency at the Narok County Referral Hospital, Mr. Cheburet singled out misconceptions about the disease, over-reliance on traditional herbalists, failure to seek early treatment, and growing HIV/Aids burden as drivers of new tuberculosis cases in the devolved unit. The use of ultra-portable digital chest X-ray machines with Artificial Intelligence (AI) has enhanced efficiency and accuracy in TB screening, besides enabling a larger number of people to be screened.
'The use of X-ray with a Computer Aided Detection (CAD) is a game changer in the fight against TB and is of great help in finding missing cases,' stated Mr. Cheburet. The advanced diagnostic equipment are stationed at public health facilities in Narok Town, Kilgoris, Ololunga, and Nairegia Enkare.
Mr. Cheburet expressed optimism that with the new tools, they are edging towards finding the 40 percent of missing cases, thereby reducing further community transmission of TB. Five years ago, the World Health Organization (WHO) endorsed the rapid molecular test TrueNat, which is more advanced in testing and is a chip-based molecular test for TB that is battery-powered to operate in peripheral laboratories and can generate results in one hour.
GeneXpert diagnostics have become the gold standard for TB testing, particularly for drug-resistant TB (DR TB), which is difficult to diagnose through traditional sputum smear technologies or chest X-rays. Mr. Cheburet mentioned that back in the day, reliance on old X-ray machines led to many missed TB cases and delayed results.
Eradication of TB in Africa has been challenging due to social, economic, healthcare, and biological factors. The co-infection of HIV/Aids and TB is a major challenge, as it weakens the immune system, making individuals more susceptible to TB and complicating the management of both diseases. Tuberculosis remains a major cause of morbidity and mortality in Kenya, affecting all age groups.
Mr. Cheburet said the County Government has stepped up efforts to prevent and manage Tuberculosis (TB) through various interventions, including training over 100 Community Health Promoters (CHPs) to enhance early TB prevention, detection, and treatment at the grassroots level. Other high-risk groups targeted for Latent TB screening and treatment include people receiving dialysis, those preparing for organ transplants, and people with non-communicable diseases like cancer and diabetes, as their immunity is usually low.