Shiloh
Editor, Senior Moderator
Source: http://www.nytimes.com/2014/07/09/opinion/if-tuberculosis-spreads.html?_r=0
If Tuberculosis Spreads ...
By POLLY J. PRICEJULY 8, 2014
ATLANTA ? DRUG-RESISTANT tuberculosis is on the rise. The World Health Organization reports around 500,000 new drug-resistant cases each year. Fewer than half of patients with extensively drug-resistant tuberculosis will be cured, even with the best medical care. The disease in all its forms is second only to AIDS as an infectious killer worldwide.
The United States has given more than $5 billion to the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria. But drug-resistant tuberculosis isn?t a problem only in the developing world; we must turn our attention to the fight against it here at home.
Tuberculosis rates have declined in the United States in the last decade. In 2012, there were around 10,000 cases, and of those, only 83 were resistant to all of the most commonly used tuberculosis drugs ? 44 fewer than in 2011. So far we have been lucky. The low numbers hide the precarious nature of the nation?s public health defense, and how vulnerable we would be to an epidemic...
If Tuberculosis Spreads ...
By POLLY J. PRICEJULY 8, 2014
ATLANTA ? DRUG-RESISTANT tuberculosis is on the rise. The World Health Organization reports around 500,000 new drug-resistant cases each year. Fewer than half of patients with extensively drug-resistant tuberculosis will be cured, even with the best medical care. The disease in all its forms is second only to AIDS as an infectious killer worldwide.
The United States has given more than $5 billion to the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria. But drug-resistant tuberculosis isn?t a problem only in the developing world; we must turn our attention to the fight against it here at home.
Tuberculosis rates have declined in the United States in the last decade. In 2012, there were around 10,000 cases, and of those, only 83 were resistant to all of the most commonly used tuberculosis drugs ? 44 fewer than in 2011. So far we have been lucky. The low numbers hide the precarious nature of the nation?s public health defense, and how vulnerable we would be to an epidemic...