Untreatable Tuberculosis Threatens Africa

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The New York Sun

NAIROBI, Kenya — Untreatable new strains of tuberculosis spreading unchecked through Africa could kill millions of people and reverse years of costly efforts to keep HIV patients alive, doctors said. Kenya, Tanzania, and Uganda are reporting increasing numbers of cases of drug-resistant versions of the deadly disease, and they fear that these are only the tip of the iceberg.

If these strains take hold, even the newest — and most expensive — drugs will be virtually useless as patients already weakened by HIV fall prey to the new TB. Poor health services in overcrowded populations who do not stick to their prescriptions mean that the infection is mutating in many developing countries.


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