Drug Resistant TB Particularly Dangerous To People HIV-Pos.
By, 365Gay.com Newscenter Staff, May 30, 2007
(New York City) The case of a man with a rare and dangerous form of tuberculosis, ordered into quarantine, is of particular concern to people who are HIV-positive.
Called Extensively Drug-Resistant Tuberculosis, or XDR TB, it resists almost all drugs used to treat TB, leaving open only less effective options, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Some drugs have achieved cure rates for an estimated 30 percent of affected people, CDC says.
But, in people with HIV/AIDS the infection is generally fatal - 90 per cent of these cases end in death.
That makes tracking down anyone who may have come in contact with the man particularly important. That he traveled from the US to Europe and then returned home via Canada makes the search for those people more complicated.
Like regular TB, people infected with XDR TB spew out the TB germs when they cough, sneeze or even speak or sing.
Persons who breathe in the air containing these TB germs can become infected, though it is believed people who have fleeting contact with a case aren't at much risk.
Only between five and 10 per cent of people who are infected come down with active disease, according to the CDC. The rest have what is called latent infection and they are not infectious to others.
The CDC has taken the rare step of releasing information on the infected man. The federal agency said that he may have spread the disease to passengers and crew on two trans-Atlantic flights earlier this month.
The patient flew from Atlanta to Paris on Mat 12, arriving on May 13, on Air France Flight 385. He returned to the United States on May 24, on Czech Air Flight 410, from Prague to Montreal.
The man then drove into the United States.
The hunt for people who may have come in contact with the man is underway in the US, Canada, Italy and Greece. The CDC said that anyone who may have come in contact with him should immediately see their doctor and be checked for TB.
Source: http://www.365gay.com/Newscon07/05/053007tb.htm
(New York City) The case of a man with a rare and dangerous form of tuberculosis, ordered into quarantine, is of particular concern to people who are HIV-positive.
Called Extensively Drug-Resistant Tuberculosis, or XDR TB, it resists almost all drugs used to treat TB, leaving open only less effective options, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Some drugs have achieved cure rates for an estimated 30 percent of affected people, CDC says.
But, in people with HIV/AIDS the infection is generally fatal - 90 per cent of these cases end in death.
That makes tracking down anyone who may have come in contact with the man particularly important. That he traveled from the US to Europe and then returned home via Canada makes the search for those people more complicated.
Like regular TB, people infected with XDR TB spew out the TB germs when they cough, sneeze or even speak or sing.
Persons who breathe in the air containing these TB germs can become infected, though it is believed people who have fleeting contact with a case aren't at much risk.
Only between five and 10 per cent of people who are infected come down with active disease, according to the CDC. The rest have what is called latent infection and they are not infectious to others.
The CDC has taken the rare step of releasing information on the infected man. The federal agency said that he may have spread the disease to passengers and crew on two trans-Atlantic flights earlier this month.
The patient flew from Atlanta to Paris on Mat 12, arriving on May 13, on Air France Flight 385. He returned to the United States on May 24, on Czech Air Flight 410, from Prague to Montreal.
The man then drove into the United States.
The hunt for people who may have come in contact with the man is underway in the US, Canada, Italy and Greece. The CDC said that anyone who may have come in contact with him should immediately see their doctor and be checked for TB.
Source: http://www.365gay.com/Newscon07/05/053007tb.htm
posted by AIDS-Care-Watch at 9:24 am
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