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Africa: Red Alert as Drug Resistant TB Goes Airborne
Africa: Red Alert as Drug Resistant TB Goes Airborne
http://allafrica.com/stories/200609260509.html
Vanguard (Lagos)
September 26, 2006
Posted to the web September 26, 2006
Sola Ogundipe
Medical institutions throughout the world are drawing attention to the pandemic of the new drug resistant strain of tuberculosis which has since become airborne, even as the World Health Organization warned in Switzerland that the strain capable of further spreading in the African continent.
Amongst countries at risk of the deadly strain are Djibouti, Egypt, Ethiopia, Ghana, Ivory coast, Kenya, Mauritania, Niger, South Africa and Nigeria. No response to the threat has been issued by health authorities over the development.
The new strain of extremely resistant TB known as XDR-TB is currently rapidly spreading in the United States, Eastern Europe and parts of Africa.
Reports quoting Paul Nunn, Head of the WHO TB resistance team, said the organization estimates that about 180,000 of the million cases of TB in the world could be XDR-TB.
"This is raising the specter of something that we have been worried might happen for a decade -- the possibility of virtually untreatable TB."
Meanwhile experts are worried about the major implications for the antiretroviral drug treatment programme being rolled out for HIV and AIDS patients across Africa, where a great number of those patients die from TB.
It is known that any one exposed to the contagion can easily become infected as it easily spreads through the air.
Already, International health experts have met in Johannesburg, South Africa to discuss stronger preventative measures against this deadly form of the disease.
The XDR-TB strain,is virtually untreatable and has an alarmingly high mortality rate.
In a recent outbreak in the Kwazlul-Natal province of South Africa, it killed 52 of 53 patients infected. Most of the victims were HIV-positive.
Health officials warn that people infected with HIV are particularly susceptible to XDR-TB because of their already weakened immune systems.
WHO officials said drug-resistant tuberculosis could have a severe impact on mortality in Africa, given the underlying HIV epidemic.
It noted that the strain has been found in all regions of the world, most frequently in the countries of the former Soviet Union and in Asia.
The Extensively Drug-Resistant" strain (EDR-TB) and "multi-drug resistant" strain (MDR-TB), set annual TB death at 2 million people, mostly in Africa and south east Asia.
EDR-TB affects those who stop treatment or remain unaware of their condition.
MDR-TB is almost impossible to cure because it overpowers the best first- and second-line TB drugs.
South Africa reported 50 dead to EDR-TB and the US 74 since 1993.
http://allafrica.com/stories/200609260509.html
Vanguard (Lagos)
September 26, 2006
Posted to the web September 26, 2006
Sola Ogundipe
Medical institutions throughout the world are drawing attention to the pandemic of the new drug resistant strain of tuberculosis which has since become airborne, even as the World Health Organization warned in Switzerland that the strain capable of further spreading in the African continent.
Amongst countries at risk of the deadly strain are Djibouti, Egypt, Ethiopia, Ghana, Ivory coast, Kenya, Mauritania, Niger, South Africa and Nigeria. No response to the threat has been issued by health authorities over the development.
The new strain of extremely resistant TB known as XDR-TB is currently rapidly spreading in the United States, Eastern Europe and parts of Africa.
Reports quoting Paul Nunn, Head of the WHO TB resistance team, said the organization estimates that about 180,000 of the million cases of TB in the world could be XDR-TB.
"This is raising the specter of something that we have been worried might happen for a decade -- the possibility of virtually untreatable TB."
Meanwhile experts are worried about the major implications for the antiretroviral drug treatment programme being rolled out for HIV and AIDS patients across Africa, where a great number of those patients die from TB.
It is known that any one exposed to the contagion can easily become infected as it easily spreads through the air.
Already, International health experts have met in Johannesburg, South Africa to discuss stronger preventative measures against this deadly form of the disease.
The XDR-TB strain,is virtually untreatable and has an alarmingly high mortality rate.
In a recent outbreak in the Kwazlul-Natal province of South Africa, it killed 52 of 53 patients infected. Most of the victims were HIV-positive.
Health officials warn that people infected with HIV are particularly susceptible to XDR-TB because of their already weakened immune systems.
WHO officials said drug-resistant tuberculosis could have a severe impact on mortality in Africa, given the underlying HIV epidemic.
It noted that the strain has been found in all regions of the world, most frequently in the countries of the former Soviet Union and in Asia.
The Extensively Drug-Resistant" strain (EDR-TB) and "multi-drug resistant" strain (MDR-TB), set annual TB death at 2 million people, mostly in Africa and south east Asia.
EDR-TB affects those who stop treatment or remain unaware of their condition.
MDR-TB is almost impossible to cure because it overpowers the best first- and second-line TB drugs.
South Africa reported 50 dead to EDR-TB and the US 74 since 1993.