Extremely Drug Resistant Tuberculosis XDR-TB - VOA Story

U.S. health officials have quarantined an airline passenger who may have exposed others to a potentially dangerous form of tuberculosis. The unusual decision was made after the passenger took flights from the U.S. to Europe, then to Montreal, Canada before reentering the United States. The man has what's called 'Extremely Drug Resistant' tuberculosis. Passengers and crew from both flights have been urged to be tested for the infection. XDR-tb is an especially virulent form of the disease that is resistant to standard drug treatment.

The World Health Organization says about nine million people around the world have TB and 1.6 million die from it every year. The greatest burden is in South and East Asia, followed closely by Africa and the Western Pacific regions, all adding up to 85 percent of the world total.

But TB persists and mutates into drug-resistant strains harder to cure because many patients fail to finish taking their medicine. For years, the World Health Organization has promoted directly observed therapy by local health care workers who go to patients' homes to make sure they take their pills. But in poor countries with weak health systems, health workers to do this are in short supply.

As a result, bacterial resistance to at least two common TB drugs is spreading, requiring newer, more expensive, and more toxic compounds to do the job.

"One of the biggest challenges is we know it's out there, but we don't know how much of it is out there," says Joann Carter. She is with the non-governmental group RESULTS, which helps fund medical projects in developing countries. She notes that an even more dangerous TB strain has developed recently. The bacterium has mutated further into a form resistant to most of the older and newer drugs. This so-called extremely drug resistant strain, or XDR tuberculosis, was first noticed in South Africa, fueled by the HIV epidemic that weakens patients' ability to fight such diseases.

Category:

News & Politics

Tags:

• Tuberculosis
• XDR-TB
• Extremely
• Drug
• Resistant

[00001locdogg]

Andrew Speaker's father works for the CDC (Center for Disease Control). He is studying a tough strain of tuberculosis, and claims theres absolutely no connection with his profession and what is going on with his son, Andrew.

[MyEarbot]

Actually, it's his new Father-In-Law according to MSNBC

"His new father-in-law, Robert C. Cooksey, is a CDC microbiologist whose specialty is TB and other bacteria. Cooksey would not comment on whether he reported his son-in-law to federal health authorities. Nor did the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention explain how the case came to their attention. However, Cooksey said that neither he nor his CDC laboratory was the source of his son-in-law's TB."

[FizixOnSnow]

"Aids is an engeneered race specific bioweapon, Negros are far more susceptable and diefar far faster from it" -injunkayl

Haha, you are partly correct (caucasians do have more resistance to AIDS than non-european descendants). BUT this is simply because of the bubonic plague. Both viruses target CCR5 on macrophages. Survivors of the plague had low or (rarely) no CCR5 on their macrophages and thus could proliferate and pass this trait. This is also why some are IMMUNE to HIV. Look it up... :p

[AdrianaStuijt]

Note on this video that the South African patients sit together, unprotected with face masks, in outpatient clinics waiting for treatment - while the patients filmed in the Asian hospital all wear face masks and are clearly kept isolated from all other patients in the outpatient-treatment system. The South African authorities still resist any and all scientific calls to isolate suspected XDR-TB and MDR-TB patients from others visiting outpatient clinics and -hospitals.

[kinjat56]

@herringfly I think they do have the awareness but the thing is they are poor. They can't afford the medicine for over 9 months and a TB patient feels like he is 100% OK after like 2-3 months of treatment. So they end up stopping the treatment earlier which in many cases turns bad.

[herringfly]

What's the point of trying to medicate people who don't have the intelligence to follow instructions to complete their treatment. The consequences are untreatable strains of TB. Napalm would be a simpler, more effective treatment.

[trousien]

isn't there a shot that helps you become tb resistant i remember having serveral tb shots when i was a kid i know it might not stop xdrtb but eh it can help

[TheSolarGoddess]

Honestly, I will tell anyone who will listen that you do not have to be susceptible to every new superbug and designer disease that pops up. I use the oxygentherapyprogramdotcom.

Then it truly does become a 'simple problem'.

Not spamming, people - Just saving lives.

[TheSolarGoddess]

There is already 1 documented case in Florida. A Venuzuelan kid who was studying at the University of Florida.

[tacotony24]

It is only a matter of time before drug resistant TB will spread in the US. Many people in the US probably don't even know it that they already carry the TB bacteria inside their bodies.

[btwall60]

they should give that guy a nice meal nice wine, bring him a hooker with a mask on , and then dig a hole about 12 feet deep

bt