Drug-resistant TB. The "white plague"

NUance

NUance

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Drug-resistant "white plague" lurks among rich and poor

By Kate Kelland, Health and Science Correspondent | Reuters – 4 hrs ago

But rapidly rising rates of drug-resistant TB in some of the wealthiest cities in the world, as well as across Africa and Asia, are again making history. London has been dubbed the "tuberculosis capital of Europe", and a startling recent study documenting new cases of so-called "totally drug resistant" TB in India suggests the modern-day tale of this disease could get a lot worse.

"We can't afford this genie to get out of the bag. Because once it has, I don't know how we'll control TB," said Ruth McNerney, an expert on tuberculosis at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.

INTERNATIONAL ALARM

TB is a bacterial infection that destroys patients' lung tissue, making them cough and sneeze, and spread germs through the air. Anyone with active TB can easily infect another 10 to 15 people a year.

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I'm not generally much of an alarmist. But these strains of drug resistant TB have the potential to be devastating. We created them ourselves through the careless use of antibiotics.

 
BIGREDIOWAN said:
F*&king awesome! Time to start stocking up on food, water, and masks for this one...................hell!
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Dont forget guns and ammo incase if this is the start of an zombie appocalypse or collapse of the world since it's now 2012 and 12/25 is soon to be here lol.

 
I use anti-bacterial products but do so very sparingly. The human immune system is one of the most dynamic aspects of the body. By using anti-bacterial products heavily you actually weaken your immune system. Exposure to viruses, bacteria, and other types of pathogens is actually good for you because if it doesn't kill you it generally makes you stronger. Besides, diseases act as a counter balance to human population growth. The more we try and suppress these diseases the worse they will get until there is a global epidemic which could drastically reduce the population. It's like the Black Plague from the middle ages, it caused death and chaos on a global scale. But those who survived became essentially immune to it. And that's why we humans need to let these viruses and other pathogens run their course.

 
We could have wiped TB off the face of the earth. The problem is, in the past a lot of people who contracted TB were drug addicts and/or destitute. They'd get started on a course of drugs to treat the disease, but then bail out a couple weeks later when they felt better. Every patient who did this was like a petri dish for a new strain. This is how the "white plague" drug-resistant strains of TB were created.

Pretty soon it will morph further and we'll have zombies. /jk

 
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