Published: 10 hours ago, 13:45 EST, June 27, 2008
South African TB patients rampage
By CLARE NULLIS , Associated Press Writer, Medicine & Health /
Diseases
(AP) -- Authorities increased security Friday at a tuberculosis
hospital where patients with drug-resistant forms of the disease went
on a rampage to protest prison-like conditions.
Twenty-two patients were arrested Wednesday, accused of public
violence and assault after they pelted staff with stones and
vandalized equipment. But the local police station and prison refused
to admit them because of fears of the highly infectious disease.
Instead, they were returned to the hospital.
"When the patients were arrested, they threatened staff members,
saying that they would retaliate when they returned to the hospital,"
local health authority spokesman Sizwe Kupelo said. "This will not be
tolerated."
The Jose Pearson hospital, near the coastal city of Port Elizabeth,
treats about 300 patients. Many have multidrug-resistant TB and the
even more dangerous extensively drug-resistant TB, which is very
difficult and expensive to treat. Those with drug-resistant strains
are supposed to stay in the hospital for six months to two years,
living in isolated wards surrounded by barbed wire and security
guards.
South African authorities have reluctantly resorted to enforced
confinement of patients with drug-resistant TB because of fears that
it might otherwise spread through the community. TB is an airborne
bacteria and can be spread easily through coughing or sneezing.
The country is gripped by a tuberculosis crisis, which is feeding off
the AIDS epidemic and striking the weakened immune system of victims.
Nearly 60 percent of South African TB patients have AIDS. The
emergence of drug-resistant TB strains - often the result of not
sticking to the standard six-month course of treatment - has worsened
patients' chances of survival.
There were 2,901 cases of multidrug-resistant TB in South Africa last
year, and 561 cases of extensively drug-resistant TB. But the reported
figures are believed to be only an indication of the real situation,
because many patients die before they can be diagnosed.
This year, the government is spending an additional 400 million rands
(US$50 million euro32 million) on beds for people with drug-resistant
TB. But anger, frustration and depression are high at hospitals like
Jose Pearson, and there are constant staff shortages because nurses
are afraid of contracting the disease.
Twenty-two patients cut through the hospital's wire fencing and
escaped just before Christmas to spend time with their families. Most
eventually returned after authorities searched house to house, but the
same pattern was repeated at Easter.
The Eastern Cape provincial health department equipped the hospital
with new televisions, DVDs and games to try to relieve the boredom.
The local Herald newspaper said tension at the hospital exploded
Wednesday after patients refused to let a nurse give them their daily
injection. A local government official arrived to try to defuse the
row and when security guards opened a gate to allow the nurse to
leave, patients stormed them.
The guards, armed with pepper spray and batons, formed a human chain
behind the car and blocked the patients who wielded iron rods and golf
clubs. Some patients hurled rocks and a large concrete brick through
the window of the security booth and smashed video monitors. A large
contingent of police arrived, donned protective masks and latex
gloves, and arrested the patients, the newspaper reported.
Who loves ya.
Tom
Jesus Was A Vegetarian!
http://tinyurl.com/2r2nkh
Man Is A Herbivore!
http://tinyurl.com/4rq595
DEAD PEOPLE WALKING
http://tinyurl.com/zk9fk
ironjustice - 28 Jun 2008 05:16 GMT
On Jun 27, 8:45 pm, ironjustice <teamtan...@hotmail.com> wrote: drug-
resistant forms of the disease <<
If one were to show specifically a **response** of the tuberculosis
patient TO a SPECIFIC treatment one could expect the treatment to be
implemented?
This may lead the rest of the world to approve the **banning** of the
eating of meat.
"Increased dietary iron was associated with a 3.5-fold increase in
the
odds of developing active tuberculosis and a 1.3-fold increase in the
estimated hazard ratio of death."
The repository of the disease WILL be locked up in prison-like
hospitals to prevent other humans catching the disease they **choose**
to keep in their body.
The **choice** made by the eating of meat allows the disease to reside
in the body and allows them to contaminate all those around them.
The reduction of the iron levels in their bodies should allow for the
emptying of the lactoferrin in the body.
Lactoferrin has been shown to have powerful anti-bacterial anti-viral
anti-fungal anti-parasitical properties .
-------
"Iron and iron chelating agents modulate tuberculosis growth"
Iron and iron chelating agents modulate Mycobacterium tuberculosis
growth and monocyte-macrophage viability and effector functions
FEMS Immunology and Medical Microbiology
Volume 45, Issue 2 , 1 August 2005, Pages 103-112
Leandra Cronjéa, Nicole Edmondsona, b, Kathleen D. Eisenachb and Liza
Bornmana, ,
aDepartment of Biochemistry, University of Johannesburg, P.O. Box
524,
Auckland Park, Johannesburg 2006, South Africa
bDepartment of Pathology and Microbiology/Immunology, University of
Arkansas for Medical Sciences, Little Rock, Arkansas, USA
Received 20 August 2004; revised 6 January 2005; accepted 18 February
2005. Available online 30 March 2005.
Abstract
Excess of iron promotes Mycobacterium tuberculosis infection, its
replication and progression to clinical disease and death from
tuberculosis. Chelation of iron may reduce M. tuberculosis
replication,
restore host defence mechanisms and it could constitute an
application
in the prevention and treatment strategies where both iron overload
and
tuberculosis are prevalent. We investigated the effect of iron and
iron
chelating agents, like desferrioxamine and silybin, individually and
in
combination with iron on mycobacterial number, viability in culture
and
after recovery from monocyte-macrophages, together with
monocyte-macrophages viability and oxidative defence. Mycobacterial
number and viability in culture were assessed using real-time
quantitative PCR of H37Rv IS6110 DNA, 16S rRNA and 85B mRNA, whereas
the microplate AlamarBlueTM assay was used to detect viability in
culture post-infection. Mitochondrial membrane potential and
phosphatidyl serine exposure of monocyte-macrophages, detected using
Mitotracker Red fluorescence and Annexin V binding, respectively,
served as indicators of host cell viability. Superoxide generation
served as marker of monocyte-macrophage effector functions.
Extracellular H37Rv showed a significant increase in number and
viability in presence of excess iron and, by large, a significant
decrease in number and viability in presence of the iron chelating
agents, silybin and desferrioxamine, compared to cultivation without
supplementation. Intracellularly, excess iron increased H37Rv
viability
significantly but reduced monocyte-macrophages mitochondrial membrane
potential and compromised superoxide production. Desferrioxamine had
little influence on intracellular parameters, but consistently
prevented effects of excess iron, while silybin significantly altered
most intracellular parameters and mostly failed to prevent effects of
excess iron. These findings suggest that chelation therapy should be
considered in conditions of iron overload and that effective
chelating
agents like desferrioxamine, with limited intracellular access might
need to be used in combination with lypophilic chelating agents.
Keywords: Desferrioxamine; Silybin; H37Rv; Mycobacterium
tuberculosis;
Iron chelation
Corresponding author. Tel.: + 27 11 489 2406; fax: + 27 11 489 2605
FEMS Immunology and Medical Microbiology
Volume 45, Issue 2 , 1 August 2005, Pages 103-112
Copyright © 2005 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. ScienceDirect® is
a registered trademark of Elsevier B.V.
Dietary Iron Associated With Pulmonary Tuberculosis In Rural Africans
A DGReview of :"Association of Pulmonary Tuberculosis with Increased
Dietary Iron"
Journal of Infectious Diseases
10/17/2001
By James Adams
Increased dietary iron is associated with a 3.5 fold increase in the
estimated odds of developing active tuberculosis in rural Africans.
Researchers from multiple institutions, including the University of
Zimbabwe School of Medicine in Harare, Zimbabwe, and the National
Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) in Bethesda,
Maryland, United States, investigated the possibility that increased
dietary iron is a risk factor for tuberculosis.
"Exposure to high levels of dietary iron in the form of traditional
beer is associated with increased iron stores in rural Africans,"
according to the investigators.
Ninety-eight pulmonary tuberculosis patients and 98 controls from
rural
Zimbabwe were included in the study. Their dietary iron history and
human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) status were evaluated.
Results showed that HIV seropositivity was associated with a 17.3-
fold
increase in the estimated odds of developing active tuberculosis.
Also,
HIV seropositivity in patients treated for tuberculosis was
associated
with a 3.8-fold increase in the estimated hazard ratio of death.
Increased dietary iron was associated with a 3.5-fold increase in the
odds of developing active tuberculosis and a 1.3-fold increase in the
estimated hazard ratio of death.
The study was financially supported by the Office of Minority Health
to
the Cell Biology and Metabolism Branch of the NICHD, the Cell Biology
and Metabolism Branch of the NICHD and the J.F. Kapnek Charitable
Trust
in Harare, Zimbabwe.
J Infect Dis 2001; 184: 936-939. "Association of Pulmonary
Tuberculosis
with Increased Dietary Iron"
Who loves ya.
Tom
Jesus Was A Vegetarian!
http://tinyurl.com/2r2nkh
Man Is A Herbivore!
http://tinyurl.com/4rq595
DEAD PEOPLE WALKING
http://tinyurl.com/zk9fk
> Published: 10 hours ago, 13:45 EST, June 27, 2008
> South African TB patients rampage
[quoted text clipped - 75 lines]
>
> DEAD PEOPLE WALKINGhttp://tinyurl.com/zk9fk