February 19, 2009

Misdiagnosed tuberculosis kills 25 year old

A local newspaper reported this story which has particularly touched me.

A 25 year old social worker (contact with immigrants from high prevalence countries is a great TB risk factor) started to cough and lose weight.
Her visits to the family doctor went on for 5 months. What her doctor diagnosed was stress, probably a psicosomatic disorder, influentia, and anorexia. One day there wasn't her usual doctor but a substitute, that sent her right away to the hospital for an x-ray. She never came out of that hospital again.

I have no clue if it was a case of XDR-TB (extremely drug resistant). In any case I agree that awareness on TB should become very high again.

Links:

CDC TB Guidelines

xdrtb.org

Facebook: XDR-TB: Extreme Drug Resistant Tuberculosis: WE ARE THE CURE

World TB Day (March 24)

Lancet Student: Combating the 21st century Trojan horse: challenges posed by an unprecedented AIDS/TB coepidemic

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