'Virtually untreatable' TB found

[donco6]

Now here's something to be frightened about:

A "virtually untreatable" form of TB has emerged, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).

Extreme drug resistant TB (XDR TB) has been seen worldwide, including in the US, Eastern Europe and Africa, although Western Europe has had no cases.

Paul Sommerfeld of TB Alert, said: "XDR TB is very serious - we are potentially getting close to a bacteria that we have no tools, no weapons against.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/5317624.stm

[HereSince1628]

1. But does the vaccine work against it?

[TechBear_Seattle]

4. The problem isn't immunity; the problem is its resistance to antibiotics

I believe that a person with TB immunity is still immune to this strain. If, however, a person with no immunity (which means most people) contracts this, antibiotics will be useless and there is a very high chance that the person will die as a result. Since the development of penicillin, TB has been very treatable and easily cured with no lasting effects. That looks like it is changing as the bacteria susceptible to antibiotics are killed off, leaving only the resistant ones to thrive.

Not to belittle the potential horror, but... wow. Consumption once again as a hideous wasting disease rather than a foundational principle of the economy.

[HereSince1628]

7. My point only being this may be a call for widespread TB vaccination

If there is no treatment, prevention becomes of elevated importance.


I quite appreciate the threat of drug resistance in TB. Penicillin hasn't been used against TB in the US in a very long time (when I was treated in 1967 I was treated with a drug wth the commerical name I remember HYZYD. In the 90's I know Rifampin was one of two drugs used in Wisconsin.


on edit: About easy treatment since pencillin. My TB exposure was believed to be from my father was found to have TB during routine x-rays required for public school workers. He ended up 4 months in a sanitarium and underwent partial removal of his right lung.

[donco6]

8. All due to people not following antibiotic dosages correctly.

When you don't follow the entire course, you only kill off the susceptible bacteria - leaving the stronger bacteria to grow and thrive. This is how resistance is developed. It's been a fear of doctors for many years.

[TechBear_Seattle]

13. Not following dosages has only sped up the process

There have always been resistant varieties of tuberculosis and staph and other bateria; until now, antibiotics have killed off enough that your own immune system could handle the rest. That is why antibiotics are not much of a help for someone with a seriously compromised immune system such as advanced HIV disease or lupus. Eventually, you are going to kill off all of the bacteria that are susceptible to an antibiotic, leaving only those that are resistant to spread. That is why plain penicillin is rarely given anymore; most pathogens are resistant. Instead, different drugs like ampicillin or Cipro are used. And, eventually, the susceptible bacteria die, leaving only those that are resistant to that drug. This is well documented and has been a concern for decades, which is why new, different antibiotics are being researched all the time.

Even if antibiotics were not overprescribed (they are) and even if everyone taking antibiotics followed an optimal treatment program (few do), this evolution would still occur; there is no way to avoid it.

[macllyr]

12. The vaccine is good for children only

The TB vaccine (BCG) is efficient only at preventing severe forms of TB in children (cerebral TB and miliary TB of the lungs). It is mostly useless in preventing an adult to be contaminated with drug-sensitive or multi-drug resistant M. tuberculosis.

[eccles12]

2. This may the time to think about changing some immigration laws to

cover some type of health screening for those coming from countries where the resistence is so high like the balkans and S. Korea.

[Flaxbee]

10. exactly why universal health care should be part of national defense

budgets... proactive not reactive

Drug resistant TB is already here - we just need to have a national policy where everyone can be treated, period.

[gauguin57]

3. Paging Doctor House ...

... Doctor Gregory House ...

[robcon]

5. Excuse me, but I don't buy it

There seems to be an unquenchable need to declare a disease outbreak to be deadly/incurable/spreading.

incurable West Nile virus
SARS
Ebola virus
Avian flu pandemic
Mad Cow disease
(I've probably left out a few scary diseases. AIDS is the only pandemic of our age.)

Except for AIDS, I put all of these in the same category as an outbreak of shark attacks. People were injured/infected/died. But let's not compete for scary headlines.

[donco6]

6. I believe it's legit.

I've been reading about this possibility in respected journals for years. No one's screaming about a pandemic with it. But it is an infectious disease that can kill. Just because our American media goes overboard on some things doesn't mean there aren't real threats out there. The BBC is dealing with it on a factual level, IMO.

[noonwitch]

9. I've read about it before, too

I don't think it's any kind of epidemic, but we do need to consider educating people about TB again through health departments and such, because there are ways to reduce risks. There are always strains of diseases that resist conventional treatment. There are strains of the clap that don't respond to antibiotics.

People do think the TB is not a risk anymore, but it never has completely gone away. I had a friend who's dad had it, in the 80s.

[donco6]

11. Yes, and I think that's all the article is saying.

People think of TB as one of those things you catch that you just take a pill for and it will go away. We do need some re-educating. People just don't have a conception of infectious disease that ISN'T spread through sex. We haven't had that kind of threat for so long, it's scary to think how people in general will react.

[kineneb]

15. it is

My friend is an infectious diseases nurse and works with MDR TB patients in the SF Bay Area. She gets all the CDC bulletins and several years ago gave me this book to read:
Timebomb: The Global Epidemic of Multi-Drug-Resistant Tuberculosis, by Lee B. Reichman, MD, MPH, with Janice Hopkins Tanne, McGraw-Hill, 2002.

Laurie Garrett has written two excellent (long & detailed) books on the mis-management of diseases and public health.

1. The Comming Plague
2. Betrayal of Trust

She also has her own website:
http://www.lauriegarrett.com

Her most recent writings are here (scroll down the page):
http://www.cfr.org/bios/1781/

[SoCalDem]

14. germs & viruses are very adaptable, and often outsmart us

:(