Worse Than SARS?

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According to this campaign, TB has been with us for centuries.
Cataldi: Other diseases have come and gone, like the Black Plague or Spanish Flu. But scientists have found DNA of the TB bacillus in the mummies of high priests in ancient Egypt. A Neolithic skeleton in Germany showed indisputable signs of TB. References to a disease resembling tuberculosis are found in the ancient texts of the Hindu Vedas. Every culture—Chinese, Malaysian, European, American Indian—has had it.

Yo u said earlier that there ' s a problem with misdiagnosis. Don ' t patients have severe coughs and wasting that are easy to detect?
Cataldi: There are many forms of TB. If it's just in the lungs, it's easy to identify using X-rays. But when it spreads beyond the lungs, it is harder to diagnose. It can invade the lymphatic system or bones or liver and kidneys. Scrofula is a form of TB that causes a large bump on the neck. Eleanor Roosevelt died of tuberculosis widely dispersed through her body, although doctors only learned this upon autopsy.

Does the existence of XDR mean we ' ve failed at fighting TB?
Raviglione: It's a sign that things have gone wrong in many places, due to mismanagement of cases, careless prescriptions of drugs, incorrect regimens and the lack of support and follow-up with patients. Together, these problems have created MDR- and XDR-TB. If we do not turn the tide by establishing good, basic TB control and care practices, it will lead to an increase in XDR-TB.

Cataldi: Drug companies are not very interested in TB, because the drugs are so cheap. By contrast, antiretroviral cocktails for HIV are a gigantic business. The drugs we use for TB now are 50 years old. Further dissemination of XDR-TB may stop all progress we've made in recent years in control [of normal TB].

It sounds as if you will be busy as ambassador.
Cataldi: I'm leaving this week for Jordan, where I will visit hospitals, alert people to the problem, meet with the health minister and possibly raise funds, which is very difficult.

It sounds as if you lead an interesting life.
Cataldi: It's tiring. I would like to rest.

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Posted By: Donald C @ 11/04/2008 11:57:58 PM

I believe what killed bee population has mutated.let me explain.genetically modified corn can not be regrown,for a second year crop.also,when this wheat decays it turns into a white spore,that in the past longed in lungs of bees,as green algae.made up of starch,that could not be broken down ,by the bees.the white bacteria,had not corn sugar,.but a tree starch,with green algae,that would grow inside bees killing them
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Posted By: ObamaYesWeCan @ 11/01/2008 5:29:10 PM

This moronic scumbag Samuel J. Wurzelbacher "Joe the Plumber" had his AZ driver license suspended

http://www.eastvalleytribune.com/story/128323

Wurzelbacher, who lived in Mesa in 2000 and had an Arizona driver's license, had his driver's license suspended by the Arizona Department of Transportation Motor Vehicle Division on May 4, 2000, following a nonpayment of a court-imposed fine for civil traffic violations, according to court records.

...owes nearly $1,200 in back taxes, according to public records, still owes more than $700 to the Mesa court system.

Records show he was cited for failure to stop at a red light and for failure to provide proof of insurance on Feb. 9, 2000, in a black Dodge truck at the intersection of Dobson and Baseline roads in Mesa.

After failing to pay his original fine of $627.50 issued in March 2000, his license was suspended and the fine was handed over to a collection agency along with a 16 percent surcharge. The now-resident of Holland, Ohio, still owes $727.90 to the Mesa Municipal Court, according to court records.

Hopefully the collection agency will break both of his legs so he'll never be able to walk nor work ever again. This typical Republican scumbag deserves it.
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Posted By: C. MacLean @ 10/31/2008 6:05:55 PM

Worse than SARS? Not even close. SARS is a highly contagious respiratory virus; TB is a slow-growing bacteria that a healthy body often marshalls an effective defense against. It takes only days to contract and die of SARS - it takes years to contract and die of TB, years when therapies can be very effectively mounted against TB.

TB becomes an issue for people with poor health, poor ventilation, poor nutrition, and compromised immune systems, which is why it is such a problem in third-world countries, but rare in industrialized countries.

Any time a germ develops resistance it is cause for concern, but XDR-TB is rare, and will remain so. Yes, we need to be vigilant, but media hype is completely uncalled for.