The Observer, September 22, 2006
Volume XXXIX, Issue 4
Case campus making advances in combating tuberculosis
South African Minister of Health Manto Msimang is in denial: he claims that the outbreak that is killing 52 out of 53 individuals diagnosed actually does not exist. XDR–TB, also known as Extreme Drug Resistant TB, is what is considered as the "virtually untreatable" version of tuberculosis.
Seen in the United States, Eastern Europe, and Africa, this strain is slowly spreading across a world where already 1.7 million TB patients die per year. XDR-TB can kill even the healthiest people, and those with already compromised immune systems will die easily within one month of being infected. Where individuals in nations such as South Africa are most affected by AIDS, this proves to be a fatal issue, since HIV-infected patients do not have the immune system to fight this epidemic. In fact, already 53 percent of individuals who died from XDR-TB were found to also be HIV–positive. On top of this, African nations have extremely inadequate infection prevention and control policies; all TB eradication programs that are supposedly government priorities are failing – less than 23 percent of their total patients are ever treated successfully.
In the words of an African scientist: "With this research we are looking through a keyhole. We don't know what is in the rest of the room." Unfortunately, the official chose to remain anonymous due to the fear of persecution by the government. In Africa, the appropriate measures are not being taken; however, this is where Case comes in. After the 14 percent increase in TB cases in the US alone during a span of eight years, the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease responded by granting Case and eight other institutes with the Tuberculosis Research Unit (TBRU). Through implementing technology to the already existing research, TBRU began with the following goals: to improve the overall plans of TB prevention and treatment, to define the stages and details of disease
progression, and to incorporate this into clinical research where the progress can actually be tested and therefore implemented.
Today, by combining epidemiology, immunology, microbiology and clinical trials, Case's research unit is continuing to make progress towards fighting tuberculosis. Since then, a direct liaison has also been created between the Kamomboga Community Clinic in Uganda and other nearby hospitals, as well as clinics in South Africa. Through these connections, the research this university does goes directly toward benefiting TB patients in Africa.
Also on campus, Global Medical Initiative (GMI), an organization that focuses on
international health, makes shipments of medical supplies with assistance from Cases's TBRU. All events and fundraisers that this organization holds throughout the year go toward sending anything from bandages to catheter kits to Uganda in efforts to make up for the lack of government support against infection control. For more information regarding GMI, contact Swetha Suresh at sxs292@case.edu. To get involved with the fight against this untreatable epidemic, join the efforts that are being made right on campus.
