Medical practitioners have raised concern over drug resistance that is attributed to increasing Sexually Transmitted Infections (STI’s) in the country.
According to the medics, the creeping in of the drug resistance is dealing a blow to the treatment of HIV/AIDS among other STI’s.
According to the Center of Disease Control (CDC), drug resistance is a condition where diseases causing agents like viruses and bacteria change their form through mutation and as a result become non-responsive to drugs that once had capacity of eliminating them.
A Dermatovenereology Officer at Jaramogi Oginga Odinga Teaching and Referral Hospital (JOOTRH) in Kisumu Caleb Kadima, says drug resistance has been reported at the health facility with infectious ailments presenting a higher frequency.
The condition, Kadima says has been observed in STI’s on diseases such as HIV/AIDS, Syphilis, Cervicitis, gonorrhoea, Pelvic Inflammatory Diseases (PIDs) and Vaginitis.
Apart from STI’s, the medic also revealed that Malaria, Tuberculosis and Influenza have also been proved to exhibit resistance to prescribed medication.
Kadima blames the steadily exploding rates STI’s drug resistance on several reasons most of which he says are preventable.
Self-medication, he says is the prime reason for the increasing medical condition.
He discloses that most people, especially men when they think they have been infected with an STI seek ‘Over-the-Counter’ medication from local pharmacies to treat themselves.
“Most of them do not come for medical screening to establish the exact disease they could be suffering from. They end-up treating an infection with the wrong medicine which then gives the virus or bacteria chance to mutate and become drug resistant,” explains Kadima.
According to Kadima, most patients who seek STI treatment at referral facility are females of 18-40 years.
This however does not mean that males don’t suffer from STI’s.
Since STI’s in males manifest faster than in females, Kadima alludes that the males could be self-medicating themselves hence their poor turn-out in hospitals.
The other cause he says is only when one partner presents him/herself for screening and medication after getting infected with an STI.
This he says, risks re-infection of the treated patient if the duo engages in unprotected sex adding that the repeated infection and treatment transits to drug resistance.
“The disease will mutate then get used to the medication, thereafter it will not respond to further medication provided to eliminate it,” he said.
Kadima further states that inconsistency in taking medication prescribed to treat STI’ is also to blame for the development of drug resistance.
He says that most patients suffering from STI’s cease taking their medication soon after they feel better and especially once signs and symptoms have disappeared from their bodies.
In this case, the medic confides that though the signs and symptoms will have disappeared, the causative virus or bacteria may still be harbored in the body and therefore will resurface after multiplying and mutating in the host.
In a move to address drug resistance in STI’s, Pamela Olilo an STI Specialist and Gender Based Violence Counselor at JOOTRH says that the Health Ministry rolled-out a new STI medication early last year at the health facility.
Olilo says the drug was introduced following a chain of complaints from patients that the medication earlier prescribed was not treating their ailments.
In 2015, the Health facility recorded 328 cases of Cervicitis, 198 in 2016 and 122 cases have been noted since the beginning of 2017.
According to the CDC, Cervicitis is an STI that causes inflammation of the cervix and also triggers bleeding between menstrual periods. It also causes changes in virginal discharge.
Vaginitis cases in 2015 were 128, 277 cases in 2016 and since the start of this year 41 cases have been recorded.
Vaginitis also presents inflammations in the vagina and is characterized by abnormal vaginal discharge, itching and a painful burning sensation of the female genital areas.
Syphilis had seven cases reported for both 2015 and 2016 whereas since the beginning of 2017, only 3 cases have been recorded.
This, STI according to the CDC presents itself with the formation of a painless sore at the genital areas and even the mouth.
If untreated it can be spread from an infected mother to the feotus during pregnancy or passed to the baby during birth.
In 2015, JOOTRH recorded 93 cases of Urethritis. In 2016, 101 cases were recorded while since January this year 85 patients have been diagnosed with the ailment.
Urethritis is an STI that causes painful inflammation in the urethra which is the tubing that carries urine from the bladder to the outside body.
Since 2015, the health facility has diagnosed 788 cases of Pelvic Inflammatory Disease (PID) which is an infection that invades the reproductive organs of women for instance the uterus, cervix, fallopian tubes and ovaries.
This contagion normally causes pain in the lower belly, pain when passing urine, pain during sexual intercourse, heavy discharge from the vagina with unpleasant odor.
Olilo expresses optimism that with proper administration of the new medication, the brunt of the STI’s will be lessened.
She however notes that for this battle to be successful, it is prudent for anyone who thinks they have contracted an STI to go for a comprehensive medical screening at a certified hospital.
More important to note, she says that it is imperative for both partners to appear for treatment so as to avert cases of re-infection which is a major culprit attributed to STI drug resistance.
In a move towards improving data capturing and research on STI’s, she discourages against self-medication of STI’s warning that this could lead to further medical complications and even death if the disease in not well treated.
“People use a lot of money and time trying to treat themselves of STI’s. They finally resort to hospitals but in most cases, we discover that the disease has already unleashed irreversible destruction for instance bareness and sterility,” regretted Olilo.
Olilo however faults the up-surging cases of self-medication on the stigma that people who are suffering from STI’s are exposed to by the community.
She says that such people are segregated and also referred to as people who engage in promiscuity and the society thinks they deserve contracting the infections.
The health facility usually conducts early morning STI awareness program to its patients with great emphasis on protective sex and frequent medical checkups in a bid to reduce the rate of infection.
However, rolling out of Antiretroviral (ARV) treatment by the Ministry of health has seen the number of HIV related deaths shrink.
The recently introduced Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis (Prep) is also envisaged to help prevent further spread of the lethal virus as it coats the vulnerable body cells hence inhibiting entry of the HIV virus in uninfected person.