{Multi-}Drug resistant TB 'more severe' (BBC)

[eppur_se_muova]

The problem of multidrug-resistant tuberculosis may be even more severe than previously thought, experts warn.

A survey of 79 countries by the World Health Organization published in the Lancet found TB drug resistance in virtually every one.

Particularly high levels of resistance were seen in regions of the former Soviet Union and parts of China.

About a third of the world's population is infected with the TB bug, with 8.9 million developing TB each year.
***
{Professor Peter Davies, of the organisation TB Alert,} said around US$500m had been committed globally to the search for new drugs - but this was only around half the amount a commercial pharmaceutical company spent on developing one product.
***
more: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/6182223.stm

[jus_the_facts]

1. oooga boooga.....

[nealmhughes]

2. Five foreign students at the University of North Alabama, near Huntsville, in Florence

tested positive earlier this fall for TB. One died yesterday at Huntsville Hospital.

The lad who died was doing an MBA and most of his classes were distance learning, and he lived in Huntsville and rarely came on campus, according to the papers here.

The nationalities are not disclosed, but I believe from the demographics there and the name of the dead lad that they were all Nepalis.

Last month I was on campus visiting my old profs and "smoozing" for a job at the library and had a long conversation with 3 Nepali students who were all MBA candidates... I knew there were a lot of Japanese and Chinese and Turkish students, historically here, but not Nepalis until then.

Very tragic and frightening.

[eppur_se_muova]

3. Yikes! That's frightening. My family lives near there.

In fact, my mom has neighbors who work at that hospital.

We thought we had beaten TB, but like STD's, it's been evolving its way around our defenses. Read Tracy Kidder's "Mountains Beyond Mountains: The Quest of Dr. Paul Farmer, a Man Who Would Cure the World" to get a feel for how rapidly the problem is growing, and how hard it is to get the attention and funding needed to combat the rise of drug-resistant TB.

[gulfcoastliberal]

4. We're so overpoplulated, expect more and severe drug-resistant dieseases...

nt

[kineneb]

5. read the books by Laurie Garrett

she has been documenting and trying to raise awareness on MDR-TB and other diseases for some time.

(MDR= Multiple-Drug-Resistant)