The Looking Glass

MDR-TB has many forms. It can range in severity, meaning that it can be a little harder to treat or it can be deadly. In 2006, South Africa had to learn this lesson the hard way. In Tulega Ferry, part of South Africa, “a deadly new strain of extremely drug-resistant tuberculosis discovered in South Africa is likely to have spread beyond the rural area where 52 of the 53 people diagnosed with it have died.” While it is very difficult to pin point the origin of outbreaks, especially when the outbreak happens to be in a developing country that lacks the adequate resources to fully evaluate the outbreak, it is presumed to have originated in Kwazulu-Natal. It is a region in the eastern part of South Africa. This outbreak was so severe that it is presumed to be across the country and maybe even across the world.

This outbreak is nothing unusual for MDR-TB. In fact, “drug resistance is a common problem in TB treatment, but the new strain appears particularly virulent. Worldwide, about 2 percent of drug-resistant TB cases are classified as extremely drug-resistant.” With our global practices, this percentage will only increase. As we become more mobile, it becomes even easier to transmit life-threatening diseases. The South Africa outbreak was just an extreme of this case. Because it was the MRD-TB strain that was spread and not simply a group of people who became resistant, the outbreak was more severe. According to Dr. Tony Moll, the doctor who discovered the super bug, “the strain was very highly troubling and alarming because of the very high fatality rate.” The strain was especially fatal because of the high percentage of the infected with already weakened immune systems, mostly from AIDS. Yet the severity of the outbreak should not be seen as the exception to the rule. Rather, it should be viewed as the looking glass to our growing epidemic.