It has taken the emerging story of a Georgia man with such a serious case of tuberculosis that he’s under the federal government’s first quarantine in 44 years to finally draw some much-needed attention to a deadly global problem.
Even though there are almost 2 million TB-related deaths each year worldwide, the disease has become an afterthought in the United States, not unlike polio or smallpox. Many think it’s been eradicated.
But tuberculosis is still deadly, particularly in countries where medical care is lacking. It is particularly deadly among those infected with HIV. In Africa, TB and malaria have become merciless killers.
The disease has been neglected for too long, largely because it hurts only populations that we tend to ignore. That neglect has caused the disease to become stronger – witness this case of extremely drug-resistant TB in the Georgia man – and it threatens not only global safety and security but also our economic well-being.
This strain, which developed within the last year, is extremely difficult to treat. It surfaced earlier in the United States and has hit about 34 other countries, mostly in Asia and the former Soviet Union. A man in Arizona has been jailed since last last fall for refusing to follow health officials’ warnings about potentially spreading the disease.
International groups, such as RESULTS, have been warning of pandemics and trying to get U.S. officials to pay attention. If it’s not addressed in a global manner, including a hefty financial commitment from the U.S., the drug-resistant strain could wipe out any successes being made against HIV in Africa.
The disease is called XDR-TB and is a “mutant form of TB that results from mismanagement of existing TB patients,” according to RESULTS. Too often, patients in poor countries start drug treatments for TB but stop prematurely because either their drugs or the money for them runs out.
President Bush asked Congress on Wednesday to double the amount the U.S. spends to fight “this modern-day plague” of AIDS in developing countries. He proposed spending $30 billion over a five-year period. A good portion of that money needs to go toward eradicating TB, since it’s the leading killer of those with HIV. The Stop TB Now Act was introduced in Congress in March. It aims to cut TB deaths in half by 2015.
As health officials scramble to find travelers who made two international flights with the Georgia man in recent weeks, and as officials in Denver prepare to treat him at the National Jewish Medical and Research Center, it’s important to remember that even simple forms of TB are devastating entire regions.
Hopefully this case will finally focus attention on eradicating TB. In a world where disease can spread as quickly as a jet plane can fly, we should expect nothing less.
