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| Tracking the next pandemic: Avian Flu Talk |
OT WHO urges South Africa to curb TB killer super- |
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July 
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 Topic: OT WHO urges South Africa to curb TB killer super-Posted: September 07 2006 at 10:22am |
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WHO urges South Africa to curb TB killer super-bugThu Sep 7, 2006 4:28 PM BST
 JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - The World Health Organization urged South Africa on Thursday to act quickly to stamp out a highly-resistant (WHO) form of tuberculosis that has killed at least 52 people and could spread fast. The United Nations body said a response akin to recent global efforts to control SARS and bird flu was needed to curb the strain of the disease which is highly drug resistant and has been reported in 28 South African hospitals. "This must be taken with the same degree of seriousness. There is no time to wait," said Ernesto Jaramillo, a medical officer with the Stop TB Department of the WHO, at a news conference in Johannesburg. The briefing was held during a conference of health experts and scientists from 11 southern African countries to discuss how to contain the killer disease.
TB poses a grave risk to HIV-positive people as it thrives in weakened immune systems. South African has one of the highest HIV caseloads in the world with one in nine people infected with the virus that causes AIDS. In South Africa, about 60 per cent of adults infected with TB are also HIV-positive. "For a country that has such a high co-infection rate then it would be neglect if there was no national interest," Jaramillo told Reuters on the sidelines of the conference. Officials said the strain could spread beyond the poor rural community in South Africa's eastern KwaZulu-Natal region, where 53 people have been diagnosed. Of those, 52 have died and all those tested for HIV were positive. There is no vaccine to prevent infection of TB, which kills 1.7 million people a year globally, but antibiotic treatments can end or cure most strains. However, the new super-bug appears to be multi-drug resistant. Isolated cases of XDR-TB are present in every corner of the world but health officials know little about it. WHO, Atlanta-based Centers for Disease Control and the South African Medical Research Council presented a seven-point "action plan" to combat the strain worldwide. It made counting the number of people worldwide infected by XDR-TB, or extreme drug resistant tuberculosis, the top priority. Officials say the only other documented outbreak of the deadly strain in South Africa was several years ago when six people died in the central Gauteng province and were later found to be carriers of the XDR-TB. African health ministers one year ago declared TB an emergency and called for scaled up control efforts. |
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Scotty
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Joined: March 06 2006 Location: United Kingdom Status: Offline Points: 846 |
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Posted: September 07 2006 at 11:33am |
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If this isn't stopped quickly it will hit the U.K. within weeks en-route to North America. If T.B. is killing 1.7 million a year, 170 million per century, in its current form, then it is currently more dangerous than pandemic flu. The new strains seem to be almost untreatable and this disease could become much more dangerous than a mutated H5N1.
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ian123
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Posted: September 07 2006 at 3:01pm |
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It can't be stopped quickly - it is resistant to all known anti-biotics. Neither can aids/hiv be stopped quickly.
If the UK government really cared about its citizens, then negroes would be barred from entering the UK. But this is not what we see. Even known hiv+ negroes are getting in, soon it will be TB + gro's too
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Posted: September 07 2006 at 6:29pm |
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Many people from South Africa are white ... germs do not care what color or race you are .....
so they really need to check all people arriving from the infected area ... right?
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Posted: September 07 2006 at 8:11pm |
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Geez Ian!
I find it very hard to read what you have written but I live here and you live there (UK) and I have not walked a mile in your shoes either.
But because of your statements I have to quote Frank Zappa " I ain't black but there are a whole lot of times I wish I weren't white". Bird flu, Pan Flu, Aids Flu, they will all kill anyone without discrimination!
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Scotty
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Joined: March 06 2006 Location: United Kingdom Status: Offline Points: 846 |
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Posted: September 08 2006 at 7:51am |
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ian123: I wouldn't want to jump to any conclusions but you might perhaps have phrased your comments with a little more care. You are entitled to your views but unless you are deliberately seeking to stir up a reaction then you might do well to consider putting them across in a less inflamatory manner.
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Posted: September 08 2006 at 9:30am |
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I'll concur with that Scotty |
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Posted: September 08 2006 at 9:36am |
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I'll concur with this one too Scotty. There are at least 500,000 South Africans (of all races) in the UK as we speak, mostly in London. The two-way traffic of people is huge between the two countries. Christmas is going to be a critical time I think. I posted elsewhere today that the habit of spitting had reached 'pandemic' proportions in the UK. I remember the adverts to stop this habit in the 1950's and 60's due to TB threat. Our hygiene habits have deteriorated so much that TB will spread again very quickly and spitting is a proven method of passing this bug. |
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July
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Posted: September 11 2006 at 4:18pm |
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Mahshadin
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Posted: September 11 2006 at 5:47pm |
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Sounds like a systemic problem within the country or region.
From what I have read about TB it develops resistance to drugs from a combination of ways most commonly:
Patient or health system not following treatment guidlines (6-24 months)
Like any antibiotic if used incorrectly mainly introducing the drug to bacteria but not killing it and giving the bug time to develop resistance. People not knowing but feeling better stop taking the medication more than likely for cost reasonons or availability.
Incorrect drugs or wrong combination of drugs. this could be trying to treat with only one ore two drugs which is not going to get it done and cause more resistance to the drugs that are used.
Either way there needs to be intervention and investigation done immediatly (Found in 28 Hospitals).
And WHO is on the right track excalating the issue on the World stage. Ther is obviously some type of breakdown in the health care sytem wether it be education or treatment.
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CDC
Nonadherence is a major problem in TB control. On average, 25% of persons receiving treatment for TB disease do not complete a recommended regimen within 12 months. Inadequate treatment can lead to relapse, continued transmission, and the development of drug resistance.
One way to ensure that patients adhere to therapy is to use directly observed therapy (DOT). DOT means that a health care worker or another designated person watches the patient swallow each dose of TB medication. DOT should be considered for all patients because clinicians are often inaccurate in predicting which patients will adhere to medication on their own.
All patients should be educated about TB, the dosing of medications, the possible adverse reactions of the medications, and the importance of taking their medication. Health care workers must take the time to explain clearly to patients when the medication should be taken, how much, and how often, especially if the patient is not receiving DOT. Written instructions should also be provided.
For much more on this see full Article http://www.umdnj.edu/~ntbcweb/coretrea.htm
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These are just my opinions
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"In a time of universal deceit, telling the truth is a revolutionary act." G Orwell
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Posted: September 11 2006 at 6:39pm |
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July, thanks for keeping this TB Pandemic updated. more on TB Pandemic here....
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Posted: September 11 2006 at 6:50pm |
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Seems they are busy fighting lots of illness , this is a little from a post down on the thread re Surat . From the Congo 24th August 2006 LONDON (AlertNet) - A massive plague epidemic could hit eastern Congo after an alarming spike in infections in recent weeks, a German medical charity warned on Thursday.
There have been 1,400 cases so far this year, 600 of them in June and July, said Alfred Kinzelbach, regional coordinator for aid agency Malteser International. That compares with 800 cases for the whole of 2005.
Health workers are particularly concerned about a sudden increase in extremely contagious pneumonic plague. Most of the cases are bubonic plague, which is spread by infected rat fleas, but pneumonic plague, an airborne disease, can pass between humans.
"If you have two cases of pneumonic plague then perhaps the whole village will get it, so it spreads much quicker than the bubonic plague," Kinzelbach told AlertNet in an interview. "People can die within 24 hours so you have to treat it quickly."
Around 10 percent of people who catch the plague are dying - double the rate last year, he said.
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Posted: September 11 2006 at 6:57pm |
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 .... I ask you, after what we read about the suffering and illness in Africa...how many people would want to fly over there to have a baby?
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Posted: September 12 2006 at 3:18am |
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Posted: September 12 2006 at 5:32am |
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TB is another spreader and becoming a growing problem in America as well as around the world. I am in traveling mode, so not a lot of links today, but I am from the Bay Area originally, you know what Medical University is there, no name dropping today, and there are new strains of TB which are quite contagious and resistant to most of what we have. We need to track and work on this problem. If nothing else, it would seem we have about a dozen diseases in place which make the Avian threat seems less serious than other health issues in America.
HIV is tricky. We have stabilized in many thousands of patients who as long as they stay sexually celibate will survive. Yet if they go back into the general sexually active population they are carrying nasty strains which although are stable in their own system, will shred someone elses. Where is that coffee when you need it? |
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Posted: September 12 2006 at 5:44am |
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Vector versus airborne. Dengue verus something else. So far, we are very lucky that our new strains are not more efficient at spread or fatality. It would appear that many of these outbreaks are burning themselves out, much like a nuclear explosion as it spreads out and the molecules get further apart. Good thing so far. After all we have seen Ebola, and that creeping flesh eater from South America, and a host of other horrific bleeder types which so far cannot seem to get it together enough to produce high enough kill ratios to exceed our drivers on the highway. We have a few real special ones that are 2-6 hour - fatality after symptoms. This is actually fortunate. They wipe out the host so quickly that they can't spread efficienctly. It is the low-grade - low path endogenous things that have the greatest threat of becoming Pandemic. The flash in pan dramatic bleeders - so far - can be contained. |
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Posted: September 16 2006 at 5:39am |
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From eating Green Turtle Meat |
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Posted: September 16 2006 at 6:27am |
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Posted: September 16 2006 at 6:52am |
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Malaria in waiting.
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Posted: September 17 2006 at 5:35am |
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Posted: September 17 2006 at 8:13pm |
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action must be taken soon before they become widespread globally.
..................... Strains of extensively drug resistant tuberculosis have also been noted in Europe, Asia and North and South America.
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Helpful info from The American Lung Assoc.
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NPR
Health Care
New Drug-Resistant TB Strain Menaces U.S.Morning Edition, March 24, 2006 · A tough new strain of tuberculosis is circulating around the world, including the United States. This form resists nearly all drugs used to fight TB. The U.S. has about a 100 cases, mostly from people arriving from other countries. |
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July
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Posted: September 21 2006 at 5:51am |
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Questions over 'killer' TB in F State
Thu, 21 Sep 2006 The Free State health department is to re-examine laboratory tests indicating the prevalence of extreme drug resistant tuberculosis (XDR-TB) in six patients. There was a question mark over the tests which had diagnosed the XDR-TB strain, health department acting head Donald Chapman said on Wednesday. "The clinical picture does not support or confirm this (the laboratory tests)," Chapman said. The strain found in the Free State did not appear to be same as the killer strain identified in KwaZulu-Natal, he said. According to information available to them on Monday and to the criteria available on XDR-TB, the six Welkom patients had been diagnosed with the extreme drug resistant tuberculosis. Chapman said the basic clinical picture in all these cases at the moment was that they had all been ill for longer than a six-month period. "This suggests that it is not the same strain as the KwaZulu-Natal strain." The department said further investigation revealed that two of the (six) patients had died, one in December 2005 and one about four weeks ago. Dr Cloete van Vuuren, an infectious disease expert, said he would not call the Welkom situation an outbreak of the disease. "Outbreak means transmitting from one person to the other. It seems that these cases at the mines developed because of exposure to drugs (TB-medicine). They were not infected by each other." The department said resistance to anti-TB drugs in populations was a phenomenon that occurs primarily due to poorly managed TB care. "The problems are mainly due to patient's non-adherence or compliance," Chapman said. He said two of the patients with multi-drug resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB) had responded very well to their current treatment, despite the lab diagnosis of XDR-TB. However, as a precautionary measure, the four patients would be moved from the Welkom area to Pelonomi Hospital's isolation unit in Bloemfontein, where further screening of the patients would be conducted.
Sapa |
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Posted: October 20 2006 at 12:21am |
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Deadly TB detected near S.Africa-Botswana border
06 Oct 2006 16:56:58 GMT
Source: Reuters JOHANNESBURG, Oct 6 (Reuters) - South African health officials reported 10 new cases of a highly drug-resistant strain of tuberculosis on Friday in a province neighbouring Botswana where it had not been detected before.
Laboratory tests confirmed four people have died of so-called XDR-TB -- two since July -- in the North West province, which borders Botswana.
Six people were being treated, an official said. One of the six patients was a visitor from neighbouring Lesotho, a tiny nation surrounded by South Africa, which raised concerns the highly contagious disease could cross national boundaries.
"We believe there may be reason for concern but no reason for alarm. We are making an appeal to our community to strengthen their efforts to find cases of tuberculosis and support those who are ill," Lesiba Molala, a spokesman for the North West health department, told Reuters.
"There is a free movement of people. So it is hard to say how much more work needs to be done (to contain the disease)."
The latest figures bring the total XDR-TB death toll in South Africa to 78 since January 2005. The other known deaths were in the eastern KwaZulu Natal province where the super bug was first discovered.
TB is the leading cause of death in AIDS patients as it thrives in weakened immune systems.
Most of those who have already died were HIV-positive and officials have expressed concern that with one in nine South Africans infected with the virus that causes AIDS, many people may be vulnerable to the more virulent form of TB.
The latest cases of XDR-TB were detected after North West health authorities scoured hospital records of TB patients dating back to 2000, following attention drawn to the disease by the World Health Organization.
The WHO was among the international health bodies represented at an emergency meeting in Johannesburg last month to determine how to prevent the disease from spreading across the southern African nations.
More pressure mounted on South Africa to stamp out the deadly virus in September after the discovery of six cases of XDR-TB in the Gauteng province, the country's economic hub encompassing Johannesburg and Pretoria.
TB, an airborne bacillus that can be spread through coughing or sneezing, can mutate when patients do not complete or are careless with their treatment or are dispensed inadequate antibiotic cocktails.
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Posted: October 20 2006 at 5:37am |
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South Africa: Deadly TB Found in All Nine Provinces of SA
Business Day (Johannesburg) October 18, 2006 Tamar Kahn Scientists' suspicions that the deadly new strain of extremely drug resistant tuberculosis (XDR-TB) first identified in KwaZulu-Natal earlier this year is circulating in all nine provinces have been confirmed by the National Health Laboratory Services (NHLS), it emerged yesterday. The disease has public health experts around the world deeply worried, as it poses a severe risk to people infected with HIV. XDR-TB first hit the headlines two months ago, when scientists told the 16th International AIDS Conference in Toronto that a devastating outbreak of the disease in rural KwaZulu-Natal had killed all but one of the 53 patients they had identified. All were HIV-positive. Since then a total of 78 patients have been confirmed with XDR-TB in the province, 74 of whom have died. Another nine cases have been identified in Gauteng, 10 in North West, six in Eastern Cape and three in Limpopo, according to health department director-general Thami Mseleku. However, scientists were still in the dark as to what proportion of suspected TB patients were infected with XDR-TB, the Medical Research Council's (MRC's) Karin Weyer told Business Day. Speaking by telephone from the sidelines of a two-day meeting on XDR-TB convened by the health department, Weyer said the NHLS had analysed samples from suspected TB patients. Provinces were about to begin detailed studies to determine the extent of the disease, she said. Weyer said hospitals urgently needed to improve their infection- control measures to protect staff and patients from contracting the disease within facilities. "Infection control in many public hospitals is either inadequate or nonexistent," she said. A high proportion of the XDR-TB cases studied in KwaZulu-Natal are believed to have arisen from in-hospital transmission. Yesterday's meeting included experts from the World Health Organisation (WHO), the MRC, and the Southern African Development Community. It builds on an emergency meeting in Johannesburg last month, and the new WHO task group on XDR-TB's first meeting in Geneva last week. A statement issued by the WHO task group yesterday described the emergence of XDR-TB as a "serious threat to public health, particularly when associated with HIV". Mseleku strove to reassure the public, saying there was limited evidence of outbreaks of XDR-TB within communities. "XDR-TB is not an epidemic (in SA)," he said. The public sector needed to urgently improve its TB control programmes, he said, conceding many patients failed to complete their course of medication.
About 250000 new TB cases are diagnosed in SA each year, of which only about 53% are cured. Patients who do not finish, or interrupt, their drug treatment risk developing multi-drug resistant (MDR) TB, which can be spread to uninfected people. The emergence of XDR-TB follows a similar pattern, so improving TB control is regarded by experts as essential for combating the emergence of drug-resistant strains.http://allafrica.com/stories/200610180119.html |
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ian123 wrote:
London, Sept 16: A scientist has sent a world-wide warning that new forms of highly drug-resistant tuberculosis are emerging and action must be taken soon before they become widespread globally. 
