Expert traces source of TB to dairy products’ consumption

May 9, 2007 :: The Tide,PortHarcourt

Studies have shown that one of the sources of tuberculosis in humans is through the consumption of raw dairy products.

Dr Garuba Sharubutu, the President of the Nigerian Veterinary Medical Association (NVMA), identified such products as raw milk and milk products and cheese from infected cattle.

“TB is passed on through the consumption of our yoghurt, cheese and such animal’s intestine because most of the products get to the market without adequate processing,” Sharabutu said.

The veterinary doctor told our correspondent in Abuja that the most effective way to deal with the problem was through pasteurisation of dairy products before consumption.

Pasteurisation is a process of heating milk up to the required temperature to render it free of disease producing bacteria and helps to prevent it from going bad without destroying the vitamins or changing the taste.

“Raw dairy products must go through standard procedures to ensure that some of the organisms are destroyed before being passed on to the public,” the doctor said.

The NVMA Secretary-General, Dr Bala Muhammed, described tuberculosis as another complex disease next to HIV and AIDS that government must focus more attention on.

“You will discover that to every AIDS patient, the next opportunistic infection is TB,” he said.

Muhammed said that treating TB in the life of animal was “very risky” because it took a longer time than it took to treat in human beings.

He explained that during the course of treatment, the animal keeps shedding the virus to the public either through coughing or heading the micro-organisms into the meat.

The secretary-general urged the government to urgently consider the public health implication of this and employ the services of veterinary officers in the abattoirs across the country.

He emphasised the need for all professionals to be given the chance and capacity to execute their mandate for national growth.

“If we are able to control tuberculosis in animal then, that in human would be solved without any inhibition”, Muhammed said.