Untreatable TB

[Hamradioop]

UK risks time bomb of untreatable TB as number of drug-resistant cases rises rapidly full article here : http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style ... 47108.html

Professor Ali Zumla (UCL Department of Infection) says: "TB is a time bomb. If you don't curtail it now it will be out of control

[badgersden]

hi the percentage increase is very worrying,found this item on the nhs website major increase in London very concerning ,again antibiotics are having very little or no effect.

http://www.nhs.uk/news/2010/12December/ ... on-uk.aspx

[Duckie]

I was amazed to read there that the UK no longer routinely vaccinates against TB! Then again, I shouldn't really be surprised!

[junmist]

Well this warning is a bit late I have known about this for the last 10 years it came over from America it was believed that it was caused by people over there selling on the antibiotics that they were being given. I am lucky when I told my mum about it she just told me how people coped with avoiding TB back in the ages of the dinosaurs so I try to follow that and don't forget wash your hands well that means thumbs and the side of your hands as well sorry its a bug bare of mine.

[dizzydays]

In the late 1980s I worked in a hospital TB unit and the cases were starting to rise significantly then. The majority were from Pakistan/India and I suspect our immigration laws are partly/mainly responsible. It spreads where people live in close contact and in poor conditions and we also had quite a few homeless/hostel dwellers with TB. Sadly they are not the most reliable group to take medication - and it's a long haul with this disease. Often they would sell on the meds and go without themselves so the disease never got cured. If economic problems result in overcrowding /poor sanitation/poor food I can see this becoming a big problem again.

[Rearfang]

I know Luton has one of the highest rates of tb in uk with high population of foregners in the town from tab hotspots

[rik_uk3]

I had TB a couple of years ago, more than likely picked it up from one of my patients. Its a nasty bugger to have it not only attacks your lungs (its left a cavity in my right lung) but in my case it hit my knees and back too. The damage to my lungs (and years of smoking) have led to COPD and early retirement from nursing, the job I loved. Six months of medication and I survived.

You can have a TB 'colony' sitting in you for years and your immune system keeps it down but when your immune system drops the TB takes the opportunity to grow.

[teatowls]

I'm not sure how much any of you guys know about the badger cull situation but it links directly to this.

Test culls have been happening already and plans are being made to make the 80% population cull nationwide in an attempt to prevent bovine TB. However scientific evidence suggests this will make the infection worse in cows and as they aren't even bothering to check if the badgers killed had TB it's certainly possible bovine TB will be on the rise with it. All badger vaccination plans have been rejected by the government and they'd rather go with the option that will cause more problems. BUT despite claims of how dangerous bovine TB is, DEFRA is allowing the unlabeled sale of TB contaminated beef in supermarkets claiming it to be 'safe'

So guys if you're worried about TB I'd advise keeping away from beef unless you buy direct from the farmer. Who knows? Maybe TB will be the next big pandemic.

[redskies]

More than twenty years ago, my lil bro missed his BCG (TB vaccination) at school. My Mum had a right set to with the doctor to get him to give the vaccine - he reckoned it wasn't required! At that time, Mum quoted stats from my cousin, who was bank nursing in a chest clinic in a big hospital in the midlands. TB numbers were going through the roof, partly because of people bringing it into the country and partly because of doctors who thought it wasn't necessary.

Vaccinations and innoculations only provide 'herd immunity' if over 90% of the population has them. Whilst I wouldn't advocate forcing folks to vaccinate if they really feel strongly about it, I do feel that there's been a major government cock up over the stigma of vaccines alleged to cause autism. It was only the combined MMR vaccine that was implicated, so they could have been offered seperately. Sadly, the government dug its heels in, sacrificing herd immunity to a determination to have the population toe the line. Idiots.

If it was up to me, I'd make the following conditions of entry into this country;

1) Up to date, valid health insurance

2) No communicable diseases

If you don't meet the criteria, you don't enter, you don't even leave the airport - you're on the next plane back home, no appeal, no debate, no messing about.

And I'd make the following exit conditions for nationals;

1) All vaccinations and innoculations must be up to date

2) If you're travelling to an area with a high incidence of a communicable disease, then if possible, you will be innoculated against that disease. And if you can't be, you'll spend an appropriate amount of time in quarantine when you return. At your own expense.

And if that doesn't suit, don't travel.

I realise it sounds harsh, but, given some of the really nasty stuff out there these days, it could be the difference between a mild outbreak and a pandemic. And it would stop NHS tourism, which is far more of a problem than is generally known.

[PreppingPingu]

I had TB a couple of years ago, more than likely picked it up from one of my patients. Its a nasty bugger to have it not only attacks your lungs (its left a cavity in my right lung) but in my case it hit my knees and back too. The damage to my lungs (and years of smoking) have led to COPD and early retirement from nursing, the job I loved. Six months of medication and I survived. You can have a TB 'colony' sitting in you for years and your immune system keeps it down but when your immune system drops the TB takes the opportunity to grow.

Sorry to hear you have COPD, my gran suffered with that. Your lungs are essential and when they don't work right/damaged it can have a knock on effect in many areas. My brother who works for the NHS ended up spending 2 weeks+ as a patient in the hospital he works in with Pneumonia and his lungs are now weakened for good. I think that is the scary thing with TB and the like is that it leaves you messed up and somewhat venerable after, as well as the fact that TB strains are becoming stronger and more drug resistant now.