Tweet
TB reported rampant among Chinese migrants
<!-- BODY BEGIN -->BEIJING, Nov. 1 (UPI) -- Chinese health officials are reportedly trying to control an outbreak of tuberculosis among that nation's 150 million migrant workers.
Although government officials are offering free antibiotics for anyone seeking treatment, international health authorities say not all migrants are getting the drugs, underscoring the challenge of translating national policy into local practice in China, The Wall Street Journal reported.
In addition, a World Health Organization report suggests more than 30 percent of the tuberculosis strains in China are drug resistant.
Daniel Chin, a WHO tuberculosis expert, told the Journal drug-resistant TB is much more serious in China than in most nations. "China has no system for tracking patients that start treatment in one city and continue in another city," he said, noting there are about nine million new cases of active tuberculosis world-wide each year and about 15 percent of them occur in China.
Tuberculosis of the lungs, the most common form, causes chest pain, fever, fatigue and coughing fits that can infect others, the newspaper said. If left unchecked, TB can run rampant, undermining societies and economies.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/upi/inde...c-china-tb.xml
<!-- BODY BEGIN -->BEIJING, Nov. 1 (UPI) -- Chinese health officials are reportedly trying to control an outbreak of tuberculosis among that nation's 150 million migrant workers.
Although government officials are offering free antibiotics for anyone seeking treatment, international health authorities say not all migrants are getting the drugs, underscoring the challenge of translating national policy into local practice in China, The Wall Street Journal reported.
In addition, a World Health Organization report suggests more than 30 percent of the tuberculosis strains in China are drug resistant.
Daniel Chin, a WHO tuberculosis expert, told the Journal drug-resistant TB is much more serious in China than in most nations. "China has no system for tracking patients that start treatment in one city and continue in another city," he said, noting there are about nine million new cases of active tuberculosis world-wide each year and about 15 percent of them occur in China.
Tuberculosis of the lungs, the most common form, causes chest pain, fever, fatigue and coughing fits that can infect others, the newspaper said. If left unchecked, TB can run rampant, undermining societies and economies.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/upi/inde...c-china-tb.xml