Persistent night sweat, signs of tuberculosis- physician

On Jul 25, 2023

A Public Health Physician and Senior Resident at the Department of Community Medicine, Delta State University Teaching Hospital, Oghara, Delta State, Dr Ese Agbatutu, has revealed that persistent, excessive sweating at night could be a sign of tuberculosis.

Despite TB being a vaccine-preventable disease, statistics from the World Health Organisation show that every year, about 245,000 Nigerians die from the disease, and about 590,000 new cases occur. The data further shows that around 140,000 of this figure are also HIV-positive.

According to Dr Agbatutu, while night sweats are often due to sleeping in an unfriendly environment, they can also be caused by an underlying medical condition.

She maintained that though some people normally sweat excessively, it, however, raises concern when it becomes regular and is associated with weight loss. Also, she explained that tuberculosis is caused by a bacterium (Mycobacterium tuberculosis) that often affects the lungs.

The physician in an interview session said that studies have shown that most times, excessive night sweats could be due to chronic infections like tuberculosis.

The Founder of Maden Healthcare Foundation, a non-governmental organisation with an interest in menstrual hygiene, school health and medical missions, said the condition has been identified among the symptoms associated with tuberculosis.

It affirmed that when night sweats happen alongside other symptoms, they may signal a condition that requires medical attention.

Federal Ministry of Health’s Tuberculosis and Leprosy Control Programme revealed that Nigeria records about 400, 000 cases of TB yearly.

It also noted that Nigeria is among the 14 high-burden countries for TB, TB/HIV and Multi-Drug Resistant TB and ranked sixth among the 30 high-TB-burden countries globally and 1st in Africa.

Speaking further, Dr Agbatutu said, “Apart from night sweats, other symptoms associated with tuberculosis are coughing for more than three weeks, excessive weight loss and fever. Infection in any part of the body can cause night sweats as well. Bone infection can also cause night sweats as well as hypoglycemia.

“You will not take it in isolation, so you may want to find out why this person is sweating. You need to rule out that the environment is hot, the room is hot and the ventilation is improper. Once you have ruled that out and you find out that the person is still sweating excessively, you have to find out why. One of the things that could be responsible is tuberculosis. For tuberculosis, there could be a cough that has been on for more than two weeks, which can be accompanied by bloody phlegm. It could also be associated with weight loss,” it added.

The physician advised those that experience severe night sweats not to dismiss it as a normal occurrence but to seek help from experts that will evaluate and tell them the actual cause.

She disclosed that TB spread from person to person through the air, adding, “When people with TB cough, sneeze or spit, they propel the TB germs into the air. A person needs to inhale only a few of these germs to become infected”.

Dr Agbatutu noted that TB is curable and that its diagnosis and treatment are free in public hospitals and Directly Observed Therapy centres.

TB is identified as the number one infectious killer disease in the world and also among the top 10 causes of death worldwide.

Wumi/PUNCH