According to the podcast issued by the CDC regarding Multi-Drug Resistant Tuberculosis (MDR-TB), there are around 9 million cases reported annually worldwide and 130,000 deaths each year. The CDC officials discussed a recent importation of the disease, carried by Thai immigrants, despite pre-departure screening for TB in Thailand. Considering that drug-resistance is a call for alarm by itself as it erodes our ability to fight diseases, MDR-TB is especially alarming as this disease can be transmitted from person to person via breathing, allowing it to spread quickly. Furthermore, if one has a weakened immune system due to an illness or coinfection such as HIV-AIDS, the body's ability to fight off infection is even weaker than normal and MDR-TB could easily be fatal. In these cases, the increased duration of treatment and increased toxicity of the medications required to treat MDR-TB may further exacerbate the negative impact of any concurrent illnesses or infections.
An interesting point that was discussed on the podcast was the fact that misuse and/or mismanagement of antibiotics has promoted the development of drug-resistant strains of bacteria, including that which causes MDR-TB. Dr. Oldman discussed this misuse in foreign countries such as Thailand, but failed to mention that misuse and mismanagement can and does happen here in the U.S. as well. I know of many people who have been given antibiotics by a doctor and either not completed the scheduled regimen or have saved the pills for another time, when they would self-diagnose an illness, such as the flu, and mistakenly believed that the antibiotics would heal them. This is how bacteria develop resistance to our medical weaponry and pose such an enormous health threat worldwide, as MDR-TB now does.
So should we be worried about MDR-TB? Of course, but I believe it is a mistake to only look outside the US for the source of this disease or believe that we here in the U.S. are not equally capable of misusing and mismanaging our own antibiotics.
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Me too - I remember teacher warning us that if we were ever on antibiotics, not to just stop taking them once you feel better if you are supposed to keep taking them. It's easy to take them lightly but MDR TB is an example of the consequences..
ReplyDeleteGood point about the misuse here in the US - I've known a few people who saved their prescriptions. Even if MDR-TB originated in another country, other MDR infections, like staph, are probably home-grown.
ReplyDeletei agree with you on this point. i think it is an interesting mindset most Americans have about how its always other countries that do these things and never our own. This applies to a variety of fields and not just public health.
ReplyDeleteI listened to this podcast as well, but my point of view about being alarmed was a little different. After reading yours, it kind of changed my mind. It is a very well written blog!
ReplyDeleteI had no idea that MDR TB could be passed around just by breathing in the same air as an infected person- that scares me. I like the points you made about how anyone no matter where you are from can misuse medications. I admit that I, myself have in fact done that. Its easy to stop medication when you feel your better, sometimes I just straight up forget.And its true we shouldn't take MDR TB lightly, just because we are in the US does not mean we cant be severely affected as well. Nice blog.
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