I picked this story up from the New Scientist website (http://tinyurl.com/6oqv3rf) which was about a "strain of tuberculosis that is resistant to all existing TB drugs" which has been "emerged" in Mumbai, India.
Tuberculosis is an infection caused by bacteria that infects the lungs but can also "spread to other parts of the body". Either, the "immune system deals with it, or it fails to kill or contain it. If it is not treated, an active TB infection can be fatal. It can damage the lungs to such an extent that a person cannot breathe properly" (http://tinyurl.com/78j3mds). There have been "12 confirmed cases of which three are dead" said Zarir Udwadia of the Hinduja National Hospital and Medical Research Centre in Mumbai "(head of the team whose diagnoses of four cases has just been published)", (http://tinyurl.com/78j3mds).
"Several medicines are used to treat TB and the treatment usually lasts six months" (http://tinyurl.com/789jpvy). The issue with the strain of TB that has been uncovered is that it is drug-resistant (as indicated in the title...) and this has caused a big worry to Mumbai as it is such a densley populated city and TB is passed on "through inhaling tiny droplets of saliva from the coughs or sneezes of an infected person" (http://tinyurl.com/78j3mds) which is incredibly easy when there are so many people, ("30,000 per square km", http://tinyurl.com/6lpbyco). The worry is that this will result in an epidemic in Mumbai with an incurable disease affecting the majority of the population of the city. "It's estimated that on average, a tuberculosis patient infects 10 to 20 contacts in a year" (http://tinyurl.com/6oqv3rf).
The only way to prevent this strain from continuing to be spread is by "quarantining them in hospitals with isolation facilities till they become non-infectious – which is not practical or possible" (http://tinyurl.com/6oqv3rf) and will become even harder to enforce as there becomes more people affected.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) will be organising a meeting to "decide what steps to take next" (http://tinyurl.com/6oqv3rf). New Scientist also mentions two other cases, one in Italy (2007) and another in Iran (2009) where there were cases of people with "totally drug-resistant (TDR) tuberculosis" and say that the "Indian report is the first since then" (http://tinyurl.com/6oqv3rf).
Tuberculosis is an infection caused by bacteria that infects the lungs but can also "spread to other parts of the body". Either, the "immune system deals with it, or it fails to kill or contain it. If it is not treated, an active TB infection can be fatal. It can damage the lungs to such an extent that a person cannot breathe properly" (http://tinyurl.com/78j3mds). There have been "12 confirmed cases of which three are dead" said Zarir Udwadia of the Hinduja National Hospital and Medical Research Centre in Mumbai "(head of the team whose diagnoses of four cases has just been published)", (http://tinyurl.com/78j3mds).
"Several medicines are used to treat TB and the treatment usually lasts six months" (http://tinyurl.com/789jpvy). The issue with the strain of TB that has been uncovered is that it is drug-resistant (as indicated in the title...) and this has caused a big worry to Mumbai as it is such a densley populated city and TB is passed on "through inhaling tiny droplets of saliva from the coughs or sneezes of an infected person" (http://tinyurl.com/78j3mds) which is incredibly easy when there are so many people, ("30,000 per square km", http://tinyurl.com/6lpbyco). The worry is that this will result in an epidemic in Mumbai with an incurable disease affecting the majority of the population of the city. "It's estimated that on average, a tuberculosis patient infects 10 to 20 contacts in a year" (http://tinyurl.com/6oqv3rf).
The only way to prevent this strain from continuing to be spread is by "quarantining them in hospitals with isolation facilities till they become non-infectious – which is not practical or possible" (http://tinyurl.com/6oqv3rf) and will become even harder to enforce as there becomes more people affected.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) will be organising a meeting to "decide what steps to take next" (http://tinyurl.com/6oqv3rf). New Scientist also mentions two other cases, one in Italy (2007) and another in Iran (2009) where there were cases of people with "totally drug-resistant (TDR) tuberculosis" and say that the "Indian report is the first since then" (http://tinyurl.com/6oqv3rf).
Ben. Be aware that TB does not just effect the lungs.
ReplyDeleteDrug resistance to TB is not new! As far as I am aware It was first reported in Vietnam shortly after the Vietnam war (Injudicious use of inappropriate antibiotics?).
In medicine it is known as the great mimic. It can mimic symptoms of many other diseases in all the body systems!
Have you looked at patient.co.uk yet? A really valuable source of information for doctors and patients alike. Ishigawa