Really, Really Bad TB
More bad news on an extremely dangerous new strain of TB that is resistant to both first-line and second-line treatments. Simon highlighted the news last week that the extremely resistant TB (or XDR-TB) has begun showing up in the KwaZulu-Natal region of South Africa. But the emergence of XDR-TB in Africa seems to be a recent development.
The extremely deadly strain was first officially described in a report published this past March. Yesterday, the World Health Organization announced that the so-called XDR-TB is particularly prominent in Eastern Europe and Asia. Nearly one in five cases of multi-drug-resistant tuberculosis in Latvia, for example, fits the criteria for XDR-TB. In the U.S. about 4% of multi-drug-resistant TB are actually XDR-TB.
The deadly strain emerges as a result of improper or incomplete tuberculosis treatment and underscores, once again, the need for faster, more effective TB treatments.
Currently, an uncomplicated case of TB takes six months to cure and the treatment generally makes patients feel quite sick all by itself. So once the TB symptoms start to improve, it takes a lot of dedication and support to keep on with the full course of treatment. Multi-drug-resistant TB takes at least 18 months to cure--but at least it is still curable.
XDR-TB is "virtually untreatable," according to yesterday's WHO statement. But health experts are gathering in Johannesburg on Thursday and Friday to try to determine if there is a way to tame this emerging threat.
--Christine Gorman/New York
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Reader's Comments
Haai i'm HIV+ South African & it scares me to hear that there is an uncurable TB. Since my immune is not that strong becoz of the virus, i think we HIV+ people we're more vulnerable to this TB. Lets pray that the cure will be found soon. Bennie
posted by: Benedicta Mateza | October 4, 2006
There are a lot of people in the same predicament as you, Bennie. Your collective voices may make a difference in getting more attention paid to this problem.
Also, efforts are underway to register two new drugs in South Africa that have been used elsewwhere to fight XDR-TB. But
posted by: Christine Gorman | October 4, 2006
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