TB: Another Disease Demanding A Policy Response
Posted on March 28th, 2005 by Nate
TB remains a pretty deadly scourge with antiquated methods of discovery and treatment. See this Op-Ed from the weekend Times. Teamed with HIV, it appears to be a very deadly killer. See these excerpts:
THE World Health Organization released its global tuberculosis figures on Thursday, World Tuberculosis Day, and much was made of the news that incidence rates are declining or stable in five of the six regions of the world. Yet the global incidence rate is still rising, and every day, tuberculosis kills 5,000 people, nearly all of them in underdeveloped countries.
In the longer term, we need newer, more potent medicines that shorten the duration of treatment. Patients with multidrug-resistant tuberculosis, for example, have to endure up to two years of hospitalized treatment with expensive drugs whose severe side effects can include acute psychosis. Research and development of new drugs over the last 35 years has been nearly nonexistent.
Filed under: Politics and Policy
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