世衛警告無法治愈的結核病

世衛警告無法治愈的結核病
WHO warns of untreatable tuberculosis
PM By Liam Fox
Updated November 26, 2011 12:26:19
Translation by Autumnson Blog

Photo: Papua New Guinea is facing an untreatable form of tuberculosis. (www.wadsworth.org)
圖片：巴布亞新幾內亞正面臨著一種無法治愈形式的結核病。 （www.wadsworth.org）

The World Health Organisation is warning of the potential for an untreatable form of tuberculosis to develop on Australia's doorstep.
世界衛生組織警告，有潛質一種不治形式的結核病正在澳洲的門階發展。
It says infections of multi-drug resistant tuberculosis (MDR TB) in Papua New Guinea's remote south-west have reached crisis levels.
它說，多藥抗藥性結核病（MDR TB）的感染，在巴布亞新幾內亞的偏遠西南部已達到危機水平。
The country's health minister says tuberculosis is now a greater health emergency than HIV/AIDS.
該國的衛生部長說，肺結核現在是比愛滋病毒/艾滋病為更大的危急公共衛生事件。
Dr Catharina Van Weezenbeek, from the World Health Organisation, says it is now clear the problem is in a state of emergency.
來自世界衛生組織的凱薩琳娜凡Weezenbeek醫生說，現在是清楚問題處於緊急狀態。
"If you just look at the numbers of MDR TB cases, it's clear that we're dealing with a crisis," she said.

"Children 14-years-old infected with MDR TB in a family with already five patients dying."

A research team from WHO found the rural health centres are rundown with very limited or no medical supplies.

There is no TB coordinator in the region so no one is monitoring patients to ensure they stick to the lengthy treatment of drugs required to beat the disease, meaning many do not.

WHO's Dr Donald Enarson says that has led to the emergence of MDR TB.

"Multi-drug resistance has passed from being created from bad treatment to now being established in a community by itself and spreading among community members," he said.

Local medical records show 94 people have contracted MDR TB in Western Province since 2005.

But the records are incomplete and WHO suspects those cases are just the tip of a much bigger iceberg.

The organisation's MDR TB expert, Dr Ernesto Jaramillo, says the situation has the potential to get much worse.

"When treatment is delivered under the current conditions which many patients are having, then it's a matter of months or years before we have forms of TB that cannot be cured," she said.

Clinics closed
Half the identified cases of MDR TB were treated at tuberculosis clinics in the Torres Strait which is just a short boat ride across the maritime border with Australia.

Earlier this year Queensland's Department of Health said it would close the clinics because of a funding dispute with the Federal Health Department.

Australian tuberculosis experts have criticised the move as irresponsible.

But Dr Van Weezenbeek says despite the best of intentions, the treatment of PNG nationals across the border has contributed to the emergence of MDR TB.

"The cross border is, in fact, is complicating the situation. In fact most of those patients are being lost," she said.

PNG's health minister Jamie Maxtone-Raham responded to WHO's report by saying TB is now a greater health risk than the country's HIV/AIDS epidemic.

"It's very frightening," he said. "HIV/AIDS is more confined to people who are active, sexually active. But multi-drug resistant TB, the whole home is all at risk."

Australia's aid agency AusAID has provided $1 million to improve health facilities in Western Province before the Torres Strait clinics close.

The money is being used to train and recruit medical staff, to purchase a boat for outreach programs, and to construct a TB ward at the hospital on Daru Island.

A gradual clinical handover of PNG patients being treated in the Torres Strait is underway but an AusAID spokesman says they won't be transferred if there's no treatment support in their local area.

A decision on whether to keep the clinics open will be made in January.

Despite the dire warning of the potential for an untreatable form of tuberculosis to develop, Dr Van Weezenbeek is confident MDR TB can be contained.

"We have the measure and momentum now," she said.

"We have Australian Aid assisting. We have technical assistance of all the partners. We have commitment of the PNG government. We have very committed and competent people now in place."
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2011-11-26/who-warns-of-untreatable-tuberculosis/3696226?section=world

愛荷華州發現的新型流感引起關注
New flu found in Iowa raises concern
November 25th, 2011
Roger Caldwell

New strain of flu found in Iowa kids. Via Google Images.
新的流感菌株被發現在愛荷華州的孩子身上， 通過谷歌圖片。

A new type of flu virus has afflicted three children in Iowa. This virus has been linked to pigs in the past, but these new cases appaear to have been spread from person to person.

Dr. Patricia Quinlisk, medical director for the Iowa Department of Public Health, said that the children did not become seriously ill. The children live in rural Webster and Hamilton counties. There is concern about a potentially greater outbreak of the flu because the swine origin A/H3N2 virus was detected in patients who hadn’t had contact with animals.

Quinlisk said, “We have pretty good evidence of person-to-person spread…None of the children or anyone around them had exposure to swine, turkeys or other sources.”

The new H3N2 virus appears to have acquired a gene that might make it more transmissible from H1N1, the flu that sparked 2009′s so-called swine flu pandemic. Officials with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention had previously detected seven cases of this strain of the flu in humans. Genetic parts are often swapped by flu viruses. Officials suspect that the new virus was created when a pig became infected with the H1N1 virus and the H3N2 virus at the same time.

The new virus combines elements of avian, human, H1N1 and swine flu viruses together into what scientists call a recombinant virus.

Since the first new H3N2 case was found in a child in Indiana in July, there have been cases found in Pennsylvania, Maine and Iowa.

In the cases prior to the kids from Iowa, the patients had exposure with pigs, either directly or through another person who’d been around pigs. Quinlisk said that in the new cases, all appearances are that one of the children gave the flu to the other two, and that none of the three had any exposure to animals. Quinlisk declined to identify the children or give their ages, only stating that they were under 18. She said that no new cases have been identified in the past week.

Health officials stressed that there is no cause for panic over the Iowa cases of H3N2. Symptom of the H3N2 flu are similar to those of the regular seasonal flu, including cough, fever, fatigue, loss of appetite and body aches.

Quinlisk said, “People need to be most concerned about the regular, everyday seasonal flu.”


The vaccine being given for current seasonal flu by doctors and clinics does not specifically protect against the H3N2 virus. H3N2 does contain some antigens similar to a flu virus from the 1990s, so some people who got the flu vaccine then or had the flu then may have some immunity, according to Quinlisk.

The best prevention for any flu, including H3N2, is washing your hands frequently, covering coughs and sneezes and by staying home when you’re sick, according to health officials.

Source: vitals.msnbc.msn.com
http://www.imperfectparent.com/topics/2011/11/25/new-flu-found-in-iowa-raises-concern/

抗藥性結核病來勢洶洶 世衛提警
路透社 –
1年9月14日星期三下午2:03

路透倫敦14日電）世界衛生組織（WHO）今天表示，多重抗藥性及廣泛抗藥性結核病在歐洲以驚人速度蔓延，衛生當局應出手阻止，否則將造成成千上萬人喪命。

世衛著手1項新的區域計畫，以更有效率方式發現、診斷並治療這項由空氣傳播的傳染疾病。世衛歐洲地區主任賈卡（Zsuzsanna Jakab）警告，自鳴得意使得結核病又捲土重來，若現在未能處理這問題，未來將付出龐大的人力及經濟成本。

賈卡表示：「結核病是一直揮之不去的舊疾，現在它演變的更猛烈。」

「終止結核病夥伴組織」（Stop TB Partnership）執行秘書第提尤（Lucica Ditiu）在倫敦記者會中表示：「感染人數嚇人。這是很戲劇性的情況。」

目前結核病是全球流行疾病，每年造成約170萬人喪命，致病原因是感染結核桿菌（Mycobacteriumtuberculosis），破壞病患肺組織，導致他們將病菌咳到空氣中傳播他人。

多重抗藥性結核病及廣泛抗藥性結核病也蔓延迅速，全世界每年新增約44萬名病患。這兩類病患對對1線及2線抗生素治療有抗藥性。中央社（翻譯）
http://hk.news.yahoo.com/%E6%8A%97%E8%97%A5%E6%80%A7%E7%B5%90%E6%A0%B8%E7%97%85%E4%BE%86%E5%8B%A2%E6%B4%B6%E6%B4%B6-%E4%B8%96%E8%A1%9B%E6%8F%90%E8%AD%A6-060300705.html

..〈快訊〉美再爆3例　新型豬源性流感病毒
TVBS –
2011年11月25日 下午9:26.

最新消息，衛生署表示美國疾病管制局，日前發布了愛荷華州再出現3名兒童，感染新型豬源性流感病毒！ 豬源性A型流感病毒跟人類的新流感病毒，基因重組演變而成，病患感染後會有發燒、咳嗽、肌肉酸痛等症狀，跟一般季節性流感相似，多數個案都有豬隻接觸史，提醒民眾前往這些地區要提高警覺。
http://tw.news.yahoo.com/%E5%BF%AB%E8%A8%8A-%E7%BE%8E%E5%86%8D%E7%88%863%E4%BE%8B-%E6%96%B0%E5%9E%8B%E8%B1%AC%E6%BA%90%E6%80%A7%E6%B5%81%E6%84%9F%E7%97%85%E6%AF%92-132656183.html

人造超級流感可以殺死一半人類