Afrika News - Arthritis

Home

Arthritis

Written by Venter Mwongera
Monday, 19 July 2010
A lot has been done by both governments and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in Africa in a bid to arrest HIV/Aids, TB, and Malaria. However, another portent disease still lurks in the darkness. The illness, commonly referred to as arthritis, receives little mention despite the suffering it metes out on people. “It was a bright morning like any other day when my family and I were set to visit our parents in the village when I learnt that my son, who was by then 10, could not walk properly,” said Loise Michere during a recent interview, “his knee joints started aching and before I could know what was happening, his legs faced the opposite direction. No one seemed to know what had happened to him.” Ms. Michere, 41, and a mother of three, said her sons’ changed her family forever. The businesses she once ran were closed down so that she could find out what had happened to her son’s health. She said, “I visited numerous hospitals with my son, he had severe pain in the joints, I had to strap him on my back. I was really confused about the wellbeing of my son.” Ms. Michere further said that after visiting many dispensaries and clinics, many tests were done and nothing was found abnormal with her son, Anthony Njoroge. “This is when I met doctors who advised me to visit Kenyatta National Hospital arthritis clinic three years ago. By this time, Njoroge could not go to school because all his joints were in deep pain.” She said. The mother of three at least got an answer to the mystery that had seen her son resort to using a wheel chair. Her son, she was informed, was suffering from juvenile arthritis. According to her, it was a problem half solved but she attests that she didn’t know how long it would take her son to be vibrant as before. “It is very expensive to buy these drugs and to come for checkups after every three weeks in KNH for three years. We have to board Matatus twice before we get to KNH but I thank God that my son is now able to walk and by September, he will go back to school.” *Nancy Onyancha woke up one morning and saw a black pimple that had developed on her left cheek over the night. Ms. Nancy Onyancha shows displays scars from the disease “It was irritating but that didn’t bother me. I assumed that it would vanish with time. Little did I know that with the pimple my health had taken a new direction.” Mrs. Onyancha said. According to her, the pimple grew as days passed by and it changed its colour to black. “It was painful to a point that even if I could take pain killers more often, the pain could not subside,” she said, “it spread to all parts of the body and after a month, the whole body was swollen and had with many blisters.” Mrs. Onyancha is a trained nurse and she practices in a provincial hospital in upcountry. She can hardly sit through this interview. Mr. Onyancha is still a perturbed man “I could not really understand what was happening to my wife of 10 year.” He says that his wife can hardly sleep at night because of pain and she cannot walk on her own. She must be aided. “I seldom go to work and the drugs that the doctors are prescribing for her are damn expensive and there is no improvement in her health, they just broke the news that it a certain type of arthritis.” He said amid tears. According to a Consultant and a Rheumatoid specialist, Dr. Omondi Oyoo, “Arthritis is a disease that can affect anybody irrespective of age or sex. Dr. Omondi further said that arthritis is a disease that causes inflammation in joints and tendons adding that it presents itself by swelling in the joints, severe pain, morning joint stiffness, poor sleep, fatigue, loss of weight and feeling like having flu like symptoms. He further said that there are different types of arthritis some of which can be treated and clear from the body and others are terminal. Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA) is a type of inflammatory arthritis. Inflammatory types of arthritis are characterized by inflammation in joints and tendons; the synovial membrane becomes swollen and inflamed, causing pain and stiffness, Dr. Omondi said. Dr. Omondi added that joints may contract or change shape and patients may eventually lose mobility and in severe cases, the bone itself erodes and joints may dislocate, causing the joint to freeze in one position. “The causes of arthritis-related autoimmune responses are not well understood,” he said, adding that scientists believe genetics may play a role. “Although some genes have been identified that predispose people to RA, these genes are not the only factor. Researchers continue to search for other genes involved, and for external triggers, such as abuse, viruses, bacteria, or other environmental agents, that may set off the disease in genetically predisposed people.” The consultant in Rheumatoid Arthritis said. Dr.Omondi said that in Kenya, there are many people affected by this disease yet there are only three specialists who are practicing and all of them are based in Kenyatta National Hospital. He lamented that many people in the country are continuing to suffer in silence due to lack of knowledge, poverty and enough doctors to attend to them in district and provincial hospitals. “In KNH alone, I attend to over 300 patients in a day and in my clinic bearing in mind that I see patients in my private practice clinic for a few hours and not daily; I attend to almost or slightly higher number to that of KNH," he said. He called on the government to invest more on research, training institutions and equip all the hospitals with medicines at a subsidized price, as well as train doctors on arthritis