Drug-resistant TB seen in US
I continue to be concerned about the number of bacteria that are developing more and more resistance to most known antibiotics. Recently, tuberculosis (TB) has seen a rise world-wide but even more concerning is that he number of multi-drug resistance strains have been turning up in the US.
More drug-resistant TB seen in U.S. - Yahoo! News:
There are about 2 million cases of TB world-wide each year and most are in Africa and southeast Asia. Recently in Africa 50 people died from a strain which is said to be extensively drug resistant.
In the US, about 74 cases of TB have been reported since 1993. But in the modern area of jet travel, it seems inevitable that it will spread. Already there has been an increase in the US in these multi-driug resistant strains: in 2004 there were 18 cases but in 2005 that increased to 24.
Unfortunately, until this becomes profitable for the pharmaceutical companies, I don’t see many of them investing significant amounts of money. I hold hope that some smaller nibbler biotech or pharmaceutical company will be able to make progress in this area.
Other Resources
• Division of Tuberculosis Elimination (DTBE) - Home Page (Center for Disease Control)
• WHO | Tuberculosis
• MedlinePlus: Tuberculosis
• Tuberculosis - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
• Institute for Tuberculosis Research
• Stop TB Partnership - Home Page
• Tuberculosis News
Technorati Tags: antibiotics, drug resistance, tuberculosis
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