Hunt for Escaped Tb Patients
Health authorities in South Africa to send out a team in protective clothing to find escaped patients with drug-resistant tuberculosis
Health authorities in South Africa said yesterday they were sending out a team in protective clothing to hunt for tuberculosis patients who escaped from hospital.
The missing patients are suffering from a drug-resistant strain of the illness, and three have the extremely dangerous XDR-TB.
The breakout from the Jose Pearson hospital in Port Elizabeth reportedly took place after a security guard allowed one patient with XDR-TB to go shopping. The others protested when they were not allowed out, overpowered the guards and ran off.
The provincial health authority said that three of the 19 patients who escaped had returned to their families, who would bring them back to hospital. National radio reported that 12 had returned to the hospital.
In December 49 patients with drug-resistant TB escaped from the same hospital, cutting through a fence. Police were sent to catch them and court orders were obtained to force them back into hospital.
A few months ago TB patients at the hospital were given TV sets, pool tables and soccer and netball kit to try to persuade them to stay.
XDR-TB is regarded as virtually untreatable, the bacteria being resistant to all known drugs. MDR-TB is a condition where the patient is resistant to two or more drugs. Drug-resistant TB is communicated in the same way as drug-sensitive TB, mainly through sneezing or coughing.
The missing patients are suffering from a drug-resistant strain of the illness, and three have the extremely dangerous XDR-TB.
The breakout from the Jose Pearson hospital in Port Elizabeth reportedly took place after a security guard allowed one patient with XDR-TB to go shopping. The others protested when they were not allowed out, overpowered the guards and ran off.
The provincial health authority said that three of the 19 patients who escaped had returned to their families, who would bring them back to hospital. National radio reported that 12 had returned to the hospital.
In December 49 patients with drug-resistant TB escaped from the same hospital, cutting through a fence. Police were sent to catch them and court orders were obtained to force them back into hospital.
A few months ago TB patients at the hospital were given TV sets, pool tables and soccer and netball kit to try to persuade them to stay.
XDR-TB is regarded as virtually untreatable, the bacteria being resistant to all known drugs. MDR-TB is a condition where the patient is resistant to two or more drugs. Drug-resistant TB is communicated in the same way as drug-sensitive TB, mainly through sneezing or coughing.
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