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New drug-resistant strain of Tuberculosis spreading fast in South Africa
15/Sep/2006: A highly drug resistant strain of Tuberculosis (XDR – TB), has been recently discovered in the province of KwaZulu-Natal in South Africa. This strain is resisting all classes of first-level drugs (prescribed to ordinary TB patients) and two of the five major classes of second-level drugs administered on patients suffering from multi-drug resistant Tuberculosis (MDR – TB). 52 patients in this region have died from this new strain of Tuberculosis within 25 days of being diagnosed with this strain.
The new strain is spreading fast to the neighboring provinces, with a new case identified in one of the provincial hospitals of the highly populated Guateng province, where the health officials have taken urgent steps to contain the disease as soon as possible. A woman in Johannesburg is also diagnosed with this strain of tuberculosis and health authorities in the region have taken necessary steps to isolate the woman and treat her. Isolating infected people from the general population is one of the effective ways to control the spread of this disease.
This new strain of tuberculosis could fuel the AIDS toll in South Africa, as people infected with HIV are more susceptible to tuberculosis and their bodies offer no resistance to this disease. Dr. Tony Moll, who discovered this new strain in a hospital in Durban, said that many new cases of this infection are identified everyday and this strain is spreading fast across South Africa.
Tuberculosis kills an estimated 1.7 million people every year, mostly in developing countries and has infected more than 15 million people worldwide.
Kesavan Siva
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