Re: Quarantined TB patient's likely treatment & relevance to our situation

[Guest guest]

I have to snicker about this mess. How did this 31 yr old lawyer get

this resistant strain of TB? Could it be from Daddy at the CDC? And

will the stupid journalists in the US do any investigating on how

this kid got it, or will they just keep asking how he got on

airplanes and managed to fly all over. It's not real easy to get TB

unless Dad works with it every day in downtown Atlanta.

On a brighter note, it is good that Canada, at least, did not let him

get on an airplane. He had to rent a car and drive across the US

border.

a

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> Are you all hearing about this highly resistant TB case on the news?

>

> Turns out the patient's father-in-law is a microbiologist with

the CDC who just happens to work on these highly resistant bugs. And

now I've just heard them explain the treatment needed in cases of

resistant organisms like this. They announced it will likely involve

surgery. This really makes me wonder if his docs aren't a little bit

more conscientious about treatment than the average joe would get

(and I also just heard that he switched hospitals, hmmmm), because

this is EXACTLY what I'm harping on about here all the time.

Basically, the doctor said that surgery will probably be required (as

those of us with dx'd OM know) as the drugs alone just can't kill the

bugs. The only way to get them is to remove the parts of the body

where they're concentrated (because the drugs can't penetrate).

>

> Apparently 20% of these TB bugs are now abx resistant, and over 2

million people per year are dying of TB. And quite a few people are

latent carriers. The solution they suggest to fight the problem?

Early testing to identify the infection and aggressive treatment

before it becomes drug resistant. I hope they keep reporting this

way. Maybe people will finally start figuring out that we need this

kind of testing and treatment too.

>

> It's mind boggling to me that medicine just doesn't seem to see

the relevance of this in relation to chronic infections. Especially

as it was reported that the man knew he had TB and chose to fly

against his doctor's recommendation (due to virulency), indicating

he's had it for a while yet still thought he was well enough to be

jet-setting all over the world.

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> penny

>