Rising cases of kidney disease in the northeast states of Borno, Yobe, Adamawa, as well as Jigawa and Kano states have resulted in many deaths.
The cause of the renal disease, which affects mostly young people, is being attributed mainly to indiscriminate use of painkillers and hypertension.
A resident of Maiduguri, Jibrin Martins, who spoke to Daily Trust, said he lost eight of his friends to renal failure in recent times.
“The situation is scary. Within the span of 15 months, eight of my friends died. They all died of kidney failure. They are in their early 30s. Their families are devastated,” Jibrin said.
He said the development had generated so much confusion.
A Consultant Nephrologist and Head of Renal Unit at Aminu Kano Teaching Hospital, Kano, who is also a visiting consultant to Rasheed Shekoni Hospital, Dutse, Professor Aliyu Abdu, spoke on the disease prevalence in Hadejia zone.
He said the complaints from the members of the public about the disease informed their decision to carry out a small study on the case and that the finding turned out to be true.
Prof Abdu said based on their findings a funding was secured from National Institute of Health USA by the Kidney Centre in Bayero University for a larger study in collaboration with Nigerian Institute For Medical Research (NIFMR).
He said findings from the Hadejia area indicated that the zone had the highest prevalence rate of 35% compared to many other parts of the country with a record of only 20 to 25% prevalence rate.
In Kano state, recent survey conducted at AKTH shows that 26 percent of residents of Kano metropolis have some forms of abnormality in their urine or blood cells that suggest imminent risk of kidney disease, a nephrology consultant with the hospital, Dr Ademola Babatunde, said.
Eighty percent of kidney patients undergoing dialysis at Aminu Kano Teaching Hospital in the last four years have died, according to the chairman, Kano State Kidney Foundation, Alhaji Wali Ado Rano. He did not give figures.
When contacted, a director at the Federal Ministry of Health said they are aware of the renal disease prevalence in the above named areas, but she needed time to confer with the field officer in the zone for details.
Living with kidney disease
Umar Ahmed Abubakar, the chief Imam of Bade Emirate, said that many people have died because of the disease but still, some people do not believe it is a renal disease.
“Some researchers were here (Gashua) on different occasions to collect samples of our water for tests but none of them returned. Another irony is that our people, especially those in remote villages don’t believe that kidney disease exists. They only attribute the disease to evil spirits.
“We lost many people to this silent disease, some died without them knowing, some who knew about the disease died because they cannot afford the cost of treatment,” he said.
For Bura Muhammad Alhaji Dandala, a 67-year-old kidney patient in Gashua, the disease started with a stomach ache but he was later diagnosed with kidney disease.
“When the pain persisted, I rushed to a friend who linked me up with an old friend, a medical doctor in Bauchi. After describing my urine colour, smell and the pain, he concluded that it was kidney related ailment. He recommended some tests for me and his suspicion was confirmed thereafter.
“It’s sad that my problem could not be detected in Gashua, where we have serious cases of kidney failure. Initially, I was placed on appendix drugs here in Gashua and my condition continues to deteriorate. Thank God, I have a friend that stood by me to live up till this time,” he said.
He said many of his friends and relatives also died from the disease because at the time people didn’t believe it was a kidney problem.
In Kano, Alhaji Wali said most of the casualties from renal failure were due to inability to afford the cost of dialysis adding that the few that are still alive have sold off their belongings to meet up with the cost of treatment.
“At the time we started the dialysis I think we were over 100 then but now most of the faces I have been seeing in the dialysis centre are new faces,” he said.
Though Wali had an organ transplant, he said he still had to take some drugs to complement the foreign organ. He said the drug is very expensive and is weighing down on his family obligation.
“I have four wives and 22 children. And they are all in school. It is only this year that two of the graduated; and in them next two years another three will graduate but the rest are still pursuing their education. Though not adequately fit, I have to struggle to see to their upkeep,” Alhaji Wali said.
Why renal disease is rising
Medical experts who spoke to our correspondents explained why the disease is on the rise in the Borno, Yobe, Kano, Jigawa and Adamawa axis recently.
Professor Ibrahim Ummate of the University of Maiduguri Teaching Hospital Kidney Centre said some of the factors causing the disease include uncontrolled hypertension; poorly controlled diabetes; sickle cell disease; indiscriminate use of painkiller drugs; hereditary/genetic cause; chronic glomerulonephritis; and obstruction to flow of urine.
According to Head of Clinical Service of Federal Medical Center Nguru, Dr Abdul Habu, presence of heavy metal in drinking water in Gashua- Nguru axis may be responsible for the prevalence of the disease.
“We have our suspicions but it’s not been confirmed. Apart from hypertension and diabetics, we suspected heavy metal in the drinking water,” he said.
Dr Babatunde, attributed the prevalence of the disease in the state to ignorance and poverty among the people.
“The reason we are having this high prevalence rate is that some people don’t even know they are hypertensive, some don’t know they are diabetic and all these things are translating into more and more people coming up with kidney diseases.
“People should be aware that hypertension and diabetes sometimes don’t show until you go for the test. A lot of people don’t know, they think I am fine, but even if you are feeling fine you should at least go every year for test because hypertension and diabetes at the early stage don’t give any sign. By the time you are having symptoms from hypertension and diabetes, apparently it has already caused a serious problem in your system,” he said.
The head of Dialysis Department at the Federal Medical Centre (FMC), Yola, Dr Yusuf Sule Yerima said some of the “causes of kidney diseases mostly seen in the centre include chronic glomerulonephritis especially in young age group, hypertension, diabetes mellitus and obstruction mostly due to prostatic diseases in male patients. Uncommonly we see cases due to eclampsia, pre-eclampsia and postpartum haemorrhage in females.”
According to him, kidney diseases account for 1.6 to 12.4% of total hospital admission, saying the centre conducted average of three dialysis sessions per day which amounted to 21 sessions per week.
While prevalence is almost equal among male and female, age of patient ranges between 18 and 70 years.
1,854 dialysis cases in Maiduguri
Daily Trust findings at the University of Maiduguri Teaching Hospital kidney centre shows that 1854 patients of kidney diseases were dialyzed between June, 1999 and July 11, 2018, an average of 98 patients dialyzed every year.
“The centre used to cater for all the patients across the entire Northeast and sections of the neighbouring Cameroon, Chad and Niger Republics,” Dr Ummate said.
“With the creation of more states, every state – Yobe, Adamawa, Gombe, Bauchi and Taraba states, now have their respective centres, the UMTH centre now caters for Borno state, from where 50% of the patients are drawn; also the three neighbouring countries, but, still, a sizeable population of patients come from the other Northeast states, because each of these states has just a few centres which cannot cater for all its patients.
By 2008, Borno state produced 39%, Yobe, 32%, Adamawa 17%, Bauchi and Gombe, 5% each; and Taraba, 2%, he said, which indicated that 50% of the patients are still drawn from the other Northeast states.
Ummate said 68% of the patients treated by the centre are all males and 32% females.
On the age group of the patients, he said the disease prevalence showed 40-49 years (39%), 30-39 years (24%), 20-29 years (27%), 50-59 years (14%), 60-69 years (8%), less than 19 years (6%), and over 70 years (2%).
The UMTH Kidney Centre has 15 functional dialysis machines which, according to the coordinator, are the highest in the northeast.
How to control renal failure
On prevention measures, Prof Abdu said early detection of the disease aided in instituting measures for curing it.
A kidney disease has five stages and if detected at stage one, measures will be instituted to stop the cases from progressing to the next stage, he said.
“In order to avoid primary causes, hypertensive patients should monitor their blood pressure regularly, while those with diabetics should control their blood sugar and avoid habits that are known to damage the kidney. These habits include drug abuse, prolong consumption of painkillers drugs which are bought over the counter and use of bleaching cream which is common among young ladies,” he said.
