In two years, a total of 149 persons have died of tuberculosis and 7,000 others infected with the virus in Cross River State.
The state commissioner for health, Dr Henry Ayuk, gave the statistics yesterday in Calabar during the flag-off of the campaign to mark this year’s World Tuberculosis Day at Christ for the World Mission, Calabar, the state capital.
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Ayuk said, “You can see that the mortality is not accepted. TB is a killer, yet it can be prevented. It can be treated. This is why we came here to let people know.”
He said that there were about 177 treatment centres in Cross River, urging residents of the state with cough that had lasted beyond two weeks to visit the any of the centres for free diagnosis and treatment.
“When you visit any treatment centre and you are declared positive, treatment is free, it’s the reason we are here in church to let you know this,” Ayuk maintained.
Also, the programme manager, TB and Leprosy Control in Cross River, Dr Bassey Offor, said one infected person with TB can infect more than 15 persons within a year.
He listed the local government areas in the state with a high prevalence of tuberculosis to include Calabar South, Ogoja, Boki and Yakurr, stressing that a filthy environment is responsible for tuberculosis infection.
In her remarks, the state coordinator, Breakthrough Action, Pascaline Edim, advised residents of the state not to live in a crowded and filthy environment so as not to be infected with the virus, urging nursing mothers to ensure that that antigens vaccine is administered to their babies given the fact that the virus is an airborne disease.