Tuberculosis: Bauchi Agency warns against taking raw cow milk

By Rauf Oyewole, Bauchi

The Executive Chairman of the Bauchi State Agency for the Control of HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis/Leprosy and Malaria (BACATMA), Dr. Sani Muhammad Dambam has warned against taking unprocessed cow milk, saying many cases have been reported from the practice.

Dambam said this on Wednesday during the programme organised in collaboration with USAID Breakthrough ACTION Nigeria and other partners to mark this year’s World Tuberculosis Day at the General Hospital, Baraya, Bauchi.

He said that, “We have noticed that TB is very common among the Fulani herders because they drink cow milk and mostly unprocessed. They mostly get the disease from the cow.”

The Agency deployed both passive and active surveillance with over 700 diagnosis centres at the 20 local government areas of the state to ease the hardship being faced by the people.

“We know quite alright that people are facing challenges of economic hardship, and we have put a measure in place to go to the communities where samples are taken to the council headquarters.”

According to the State Commissioner of Health, Dr. Adamu Umar Sambo, Nigeria ranks 6th among the high burden countries and first in Africa with high burden for TB.

“Nigeria is among the top 10 countries that accounts for 77 percent of the Global Gap in TB case findings and contributes 9 percent to the Global Gap between TB incidence and notified cases.

“In 2023 Bauchi State detected and notified 9,332 drug susceptible TB cases as against 7,806 in 2022. With an estimated TB target of 16,092 in 2023, the State had achieved a 57.9 percent performance in TB case notification.

“And out of the 7,730 new TB cases detected and registered for treatment in 2022, about 7,435 were successfully treated thereby achieving a 96 percent treatment success rate (TSR) at the end of 2023.”