Published Date: 2007-02-20 13:00:02
Subject: PRO/EDR> Tuberculosis, XDR - South Africa (04)
Archive Number: 20070220.0638

TUBERCULOSIS, XDR - SOUTH AFRICA (04)
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A ProMED-mail post
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International Society for Infectious Diseases
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Date: Tue 20 Feb 2007
From: ProMED-mail <promed@promedmail.org>
Source: Independent Online [edited]
<http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?set_id=14&click_id=125&art_id=vn20070220112202862C923242>

The deadly drug-resistant strain of tuberculosis has claimed its 1st
life in the Western Cape and 5 new sufferers have been diagnosed.
This brings to 8 the number of people identified with "extensively
drug-resistant" tuberculosis -- XDR TB -- in the province so far.
Dr. Keith Cloete, director of TB for the province, said a 23-year-old
Cape Town woman had died in the Brooklyn Chest Hospital on 5 Feb
2007, but XDR TB had only been diagnosed after death.
In 2006, this strain killed more than 50 people in KwaZulu-Natal and
more than 300 cases have been confirmed countrywide.
Four of the 5 new local cases have been admitted to Brooklyn Chest
Hospital, where they are being treated in isolation along with the
1st 2 cases, an 11-month-old baby from Khayelitsha and a 43-year-old
woman from the Eastern Cape, who fell ill while visiting Cape Town
over Christmas.
--
ProMED-mail
<promed@promedmail.org>
[Many of the initial cases described in KwaZulu-Natal also died
before the diagnosis of XDR TB was made. This reflects the rapid
progression of the disease when not treated properly and the
co-infection (in almost all) with HIV.
The presence of XDR TB in an 11-month-old child underscores the
observation that much of the disease is due to acquisition of the
resistant bug, not selection of resistance in a patient non-adherent
to therapy for an initially more sensitive mycobacterium. Young
children with TB usually mean active disease in close family members
or other caretakers.
A map of South Africa showing the Eastern and Western Cape Provinces
can be found at:
<http://www.un.org/Depts/Cartographic/map/profile/southafr.pdf> - Mod.LL]

See Also

Tuberculosis, XDR - South Africa (03) 20070209.0504
Tuberculosis, XDR - worldwide 20070205.0456
Tuberculosis, XDR - South Africa (02) 20070128.0375
Tuberculosis, XDR - South Africa: interventions 20070126.0349
Tuberculosis, extensively drug-resistant - Canada (ON) (02) 20070125.0340
Tuberculosis, extensively drug-resistant - Canada (ON) 20070124.0318
2006
----
Tuberculosis, multiresistant - Hungary 20061110.3233
Tuberculosis, multiresistant - South Africa (KN)(04):nationwide 20061019.3003
Tuberculosis, multi-drug resistant - South Africa (KN) 20060904.2514
......................ll/mj/dk

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