South Africa: Large Numbers of TB Survivors in SA Struggling With Lung Damage, Experts Say

Based on figures published by Thembisa, the leading mathematical model of HIV and TB in South Africa, Spotlight calculates that there are around 3.6 million adults alive in South Africa who have previously been sick with TB. 'A silent crisis'Professor Norbert Ndjeka, the top TB official in the National Department of Health, describes post TB lung disease as "a silent crisis". He tells Spotlight that the department had started implementing a post TB care policy for drug resistant TB patients but had not seen adequate uptake. Ndjeka agrees with Allwood that there is an urgent need for a more precise definition and diagnostic criteria for post TB lung disease. She developed MDR-TB and then extensively drug-resistant TB - TB that is resistant to even more antibiotics than MDR-TB.