Why Nigeria’s Battle with TB Is Far From Over

I came across a really heartbreaking story the other day about a 17-year-old girl who passed away from tuberculosis. What made it even harder to read was that she had so much going for her, she was brilliant in school and had such a bright future ahead of her.

It turns out TB is still affecting a lot of young people in Nigeria. According to the National Library of Medicine, kids under 15 made up 9% of all reported TB cases in 2023. That’s honestly alarming. Diseases like TB don’t care how old you are or what your background is and that makes it everybody’s problem.

When we talk about global health issues, our minds usually go to things like COVID or Ebola. But TB is still quietly impacting millions of lives in the background, and in Nigeria, it’s still a big deal.

To be fair, Nigeria has made some good progress. In 2023, the National Tuberculosis and Leprosy Control Programme reported a 93 percent treatment success rate. That’s huge for the people who get diagnosed and treated. But the hard truth is that Nigeria is still one of the countries with the highest number of TB cases. So the question is, what else can we do?

So, How Bad Is It Really?

A lot of people think TB is something from the past, but in Nigeria, it’s still one of the leading causes of death. The World Health Organization ranks Nigeria among the top ten countries hit hardest by TB. Every year, around 400,000 new cases pop up and many of them go unnoticed or untreated. That’s mostly because people don’t know the signs, can’t get to a clinic, or aren’t even diagnosed properly.

One big reason TB spreads so easily here is poverty. Many Nigerians live in overcrowded areas where clean water, good sanitation, and decent healthcare are hard to come by and unfortunately those conditions make it really easy for TB to spread.

What Makes TB So Tough to Handle?

The tricky thing about TB is that it’s hard to spot early. The symptoms like cough, fever, and fatigue can look a lot like other illnesses and in Nigeria, getting the right diagnosis is a challenge. Some clinics don’t have the proper tools, there aren’t enough trained health workers and sometimes, people just don’t realize they’re sick until it’s too late.

Even when someone is diagnosed, the treatment takes time. Usually six months of daily antibiotics. That’s really  not easy, especially for people in rural areas who have to travel far just to get their medication and if someone stops taking the drugs too soon, they can develop drug resistant TB, which is a lot harder to treat.

Why Awareness Matters

Another major issue is that a lot of people simply don’t know enough about TB. They might not know how it spreads or what symptoms to look out for. In some places, there’s even a stigma around having TB. People are afraid of being judged or shunned by their community and this is why education is so important. We need more awareness campaigns, especially in remote areas. Health workers also need the training and support to teach people about TB, catch it early, and make sure patients stick with their treatment. Breaking the stigma and giving people clear information could really save lives.

What’s Being Done to Help?

It’s not all doom and gloom, Nigeria is making moves in the right direction. The government is working with local and international partners to improve access to healthcare, spread awareness, and boost diagnostic tools.

If we’re serious about putting an end to tuberculosis, we can’t just focus on treating people who are already sick, we have to get ahead of it. That means paying closer attention to prevention, especially when it comes to people who carry the infection but don’t show any symptoms. This is what we call latent TB, and it’s a silent threat.

This is where the QuantiFERON-TB Gold Plus (QFT-Plus) test plays a vital role.

The Role of Quantiferon TB Gold Plus

When someone is diagnosed with active TB, public health teams step in to figure out who they’ve been in close contact with, people who might have been exposed(Contact Tracing). Testing these contacts for latent TB is essential, and QFT-Plus is one of the most effective tools we have for this job.

Unlike the older tuberculin skin test, which requires two clinic visits and can give false positives in people who’ve had a BCG vaccine, QFT-Plus only needs one blood draw and delivers more accurate results across diverse populations. It works by measuring how the immune system reacts to TB-specific proteins, giving insight into whether a person’s body has been exposed to the bacteria even if they aren’t feeling sick.

What makes QFT-Plus even more powerful is that it detects responses from both CD4+ and CD8+ T-cells, which helps in picking up even recent infections. Catching latent TB early like this gives us a chance to step in with preventive treatment, stopping the infection before it has a chance to turn into full-blown, contagious TB.

In short, QFT-Plus gives us a smarter way to fight TB, quietly, effectively, and before it spreads. And that’s exactly the kind of tool we need if we ever hope to leave TB behind for good.

What’s Next?

The fight against TB in Nigeria isn’t over but we’re not where we used to be, with better testing, more education, and improved access to care, there’s hope that we can seriously reduce TB in the coming years.

That said, we still have work to do. Investing in healthcare, raising awareness, and using the best tools available like the Quantiferon TB Gold Plus is the way forward. And if we keep pushing with the right information and support Nigeria could turn the tide on TB.

So let’s keep talking about it. Let’s raise awareness. Let’s support the people working hard to stop TB. Because while the battle isn’t over yet we’re finally gaining ground.

If you want to get Quantiferon TB Gold Plus, you can contact us at order@bristolscientific.com. Bristol Scientific is the major partner for Qiagen; the manufacturers of Quantiferon TB Gold Plus.