Tubercolosis case on trans - Atlantic flights prompts warnings

Tuberculosis is caused by germs that are spread from person to person through the air. TB usually affects the lungs, and can lead to symptoms such as chest pain and coughing up blood. It kills nearly 2 million people each year around the world.

Thanks to antibiotics and other measures, the TB rate in the United States has been falling for years. Last year, it hit an all-time low _a total of 13,767 cases, or about 4.6 cases per 100,000 Americans.

But health officials worry about "multidrug-resistant" TB, which can withstand the mainline antibiotics isoniazid and rifampin. About 1.2 percent of U.S. TB cases fall into that category, according to CDC statistics.

A more rare, even-worse category of "extensively drug-resistant" TB — or XDR-TB — does not respond to at least three of six classes of second-line drugs. Last year, there were two U.S. cases of that infection.

source:www.iht.com