MetaFilter posts tagged with tuberculosis

The Last Man in Europe

Artw — Sat, 09 May 2009 17:56:37 -0800

1984: The masterpiece that killed George Orwell

"We need to rely on people to do the right thing" when they have TB and fear for their lives

rkent — Wed, 30 May 2007 16:20:10 -0800

An Atlanta man caused the U.S. government to issue its first quarantine order since 1963 this weekend, knowingly exposing as many as 107 passengers on two transatlantic flights to a rare, "extensively drug-resistant" form of tuberculosis. "It's regretful that we weren't able to stop that," the CDC's Dr. Martin Cetron said of how the man fled when U.S. health officials tracked him down in Rome and told him not to get on an airplane.

Drug-resistant tuberculosis

homunculus — Thu, 05 Apr 2007 11:37:51 -0800

Drug-resistant TB strain raises ethical dilemma. A man in Arizona who has a virtually untreatable strain of extensively drug-resistant tuberculosis (XDR TB) has been locked up indefinitely because he failed to take precautions to avoid infecting others, even though he has not commited a crime. The new strain of TB is described as a nightmare by health officials, and though mainly found in Africa and Asia, it is slowly beginning to spread in the U.S. [Via Technoccult.]

The Challenge of Global Health

thethirdman — Tue, 23 Jan 2007 14:20:37 -0800

The Challenge of Global Health is an article written in the most recent Foreign Affairs, describing how "stovepiping" health care funding towards only HIV/AIDS, the shortage of health care workers in the West, and a vacuum of international health-care experts are all causing great damage to developing countries. The article was written by Laurie Garrett, author of The Coming Plague, Betrayal of Trust, as well as a Pulitzer Prize winner for her writing on Ebola. Previously on mefi: garrett resigns, comments on world leaders.

XDR-TB in South Africa: A New Pandemic?

Quiplash — Tue, 23 Jan 2007 10:50:22 -0800

According to an article in The Guardian about this new scientific report on XDR-TB, a new kind of multiple-drug-resistant tuberculosis, in PLOS Medicine, "More than 300 cases of the highly infectious disease, which is spread by airborne droplets and kills 98% of those infected within about two weeks, have been identified in South Africa."

Rats!

aeschenkarnos — Fri, 03 Dec 2004 16:38:40 -0800

Rats are being trained to detect buried land mines in Africa. Giant African pouched rats! Mine-detecting is definitely not a suicide mission, the rats are trained with care and attention and are expected to give about eight years of service. They can also detect tuberculosis. And so cute! Here's a page on keeping them as pets (but you'd need a spare room and a nocturnal lifestyle.)

This TB is whipping me.

OmieWise — Thu, 02 Dec 2004 07:03:48 -0800

With a newly indurated PPD in my arm, I went looking for tuberculosis resources. According to the WHO over 2 million people a year die of tuberculosis. About a third of the 40 mil. people infected with HIV worldwide are also infected with TB. Successful treatment takes 6-9 months of powerful antibiotics, but that's assuming the bacteria in your body aren't drug resistant. Epidemics of drug resistant TB are raging in some parts of Central America and in the Russian prison system. Paul Farmer is the man for treating it, and quite a good man in general. On the plus side, possibly having TB puts me in good company: Orwell, Kafka, Chekhov, Chopin, and the 70s favorite mummy, King Tut all had it. Every one of the Brontes did too, and they were all geniuses. Of course they all died of it. On a more sober note, if I do have to get treatment, but I refuse, I might be ordered to take medications by a judge.

Psychophysical spaces

inkeri — Mon, 09 Feb 2004 03:21:59 -0800

Psychophysical spaces - the tuberculosis sanatorium of Paimio, Finland from the beginning of thirties. Explore Alvar Aalto's soothing Scandinavian functionalism on a detailed virtual tour.