The Health Blog

Recently there have been a scare about the possible transmission of an extremely resistant strain of tuberculosis to fellow flight passengers of a known patient with this disease. The whole world was scared about the news, should we be scared, too? Medical News Today answers all your questions about this disease:

1. How can an ordinary TB transformed into XDR-TB?

TB can usually be treated with a course of four standard, or first-line, anti-TB drugs. If these are misused or mismanaged, multidrugresistant TB (MDR-TB) can develop. MDR-TB takes longer to treat with second-line drugs, which are more expensive and have more side-effects. If these drugs are also misused or mismanaged, extensively drug-resistant TB (XDR-TB) can develop. Because XDR-TB is resistant to first- and second-line drugs, treatment options are seriously limited and so are the chances of cure.

May 29, 2007 — The CDC today announced that a U.S. traveler may have put his fellow fliers at risk for a potentially deadly form of drug-resistant tuberculosis.

The traveler, an unnamed man from Atlanta, has extensively drug-resistant tuberculosis (XDR TB), which is rare but can cause serious illness and death.

XDR TB is an infectious disease spread from person to person through the air. But unlike most tuberculosis cases, XDR TB resists the first and second preferred drug treatments.

While XDR TB is rare, it can cause severe illness and death and is an emerging problem worldwide, CDC director Julie Gerberding, MD, MPH, told reporters in a news conference.

In light of the man’s condition, the CDC issued its first federal quarantine order since 1963 for the patient. He is under medical isolation in Atlanta and will remain quarantined until public health officials deem him no longer a public health threat.

The CDC is also encouraging other passengers on the man’s flights to get tested for tuberculosis.
Patient’s Flights

Tuberculosis, otherwise known as “TB”, is said to be one of the oldest diseases known to affect humans. The disease is more prevalent in developing countries (most areas in Asia and Africa). Here are some of the important things you need to know about tuberculosis:

1. The diseases is caused by Mycobacterium tuberculosis, a species of bacteria which is highly pathogenic to humans.

2. M. tuberculosis is most commonly transmitted from a patient with infectious pulmonary tuberculosis to other persons by droplet nuclei, which are aerosolized by coughing, sneezing or speaking. The tiny droplets dry rapidly; the smallest (<5 to 10 μm in diameter) may remain suspended in the air for several hours and may gain direct access to the terminal air passages when inhaled.