Experts call for better screening and treatment of TB during pregnancy
Busisiwe Beko, from Khayelitsha in the Western Cape, was diagnosed with drug-resistant tuberculosis (DR-TB) while she was pregnant. She remembers it as a very difficult period in her life.
“The time that I was diagnosed with TB was the time that I found out I had HIV. In that period, it was really a struggle for me, because I also found out I was pregnant. It was so unfortunate that I couldn’t produce sputum so that I could be tested for TB. That was the first challenge for me,” says Beko, who now works for Doctors Without Borders (MSF). Beko shared her experience during a session on maternal TB at the recent Union World Conference on Lung Health.
Shortly after delivery, she was told her baby had also contracted DR-TB.
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