Papua, New Guinea: 6 conformed cases of XDR-TB on Daru Island

[Shiloh]

Source: http://www.cairns.com.au/article/2012/10/19/235361_local-news.html

Incurable TB forces wave of refugees to flee
Friday, October 19, 2012

? The Cairns Post

MEDICAL refugee Catherina Abraham, 20, of Daru Island, is one of Australia's first cases in an outbreak of a new, highly-lethal, mutated variant of the killer disease tuberculosis.

Experts warn the Papua New Guinean girl is one of six confirmed cases and the first in a predicted wave of medical refugees fleeing an outbreak of the untreatable, incurable form of the deadly illness, known as XDR-TB.

Australian and Papua New Guinean authorities are trying to contain XDR-TB (Extensively Drug Resistant TB) to the disease-ridden, shanty towns of PNG's Daru Island, near the mouth of the Fly River, off the tip of Cape York.

But TB medical experts warn the outbreak of a highly contagious mutated form of TB, also known as sneezing or coughing disease, is a "public health disaster" likely to spread into the Australian population within five years...

 

[Shiloh]

Re: Papua, New Guinea: 6 conformed cases of XDR-TB on Daru Island

Source: http://www.cairns.com.au/article/2012/11/12/236336_local-news.html

Fears new tuberculosis strains may force return of amputations

Tarina White

Monday, November 12, 2012

? The Cairns Post

WITH mutated forms of tuberculosis virtually resistant to antibiotics, surgeons will be forced to return to the extensive amputations of the first half of the 20th century to combat the disease, Cairns infectious disease physician John McBride says.

The James Cook University Professor of Medicine will discuss the issue at a tropical medicine conference in Cairns today and tomorrow, which is expected to attract up to 60 surgeons from across Australia and around the world.

Doctors at Cairns Base Hospital are already treating one Papua New Guinean patient who has a new, highly lethal, mutated variant of tuberculosis known as XDR-TB (extensively drug resistant TB).

Experts warn the PNG girl is one of six confirmed cases and the first in a predicted wave of medical refugees fleeing an outbreak of the untreatable form of the deadly illness...