[BostonCard]

I had to LOL when I saw "and one tested positive for Tuberculosis."



It's not laughter from a hilarious joke, but just the absurdity of how much money we spend on all our defense apparatus and we can't even have infection control to stop infectious disease from rampaging through navy vessels?



TB is one of the most infectious diseases there is, even more than Covid.

My last trip before the shutdown, in mid-February was on a medical mission to Honduras.  While there, I diagnosed a patient with tuberculosis, though not until after he had entered my exam room and exposed me.  Ironically, at the height of COVID-19 pandemic, I thought if I developed a fever and cough, it was more likely to be due to TB than COVID-19.  Because of the pandemic, I still haven't been tested to see if I have a latent TB infection (since I am pretty asymptomatic, it is unlikely I have active TB, though you never know).

TB is a different challenge than COVID-19.  Yes, it is very infectious, in part because patients with active TB will be sick for a long time (the guy I diagnosed told me of over six months worth of fevers, cough, and weight loss) and though treatments for TB are available and effective, it takes a long time (6+ months) to treat it successfully.  It is also known to be spread by aerosols, so I would have needed an N95 to protect myself. The bacteria can also develop resistance to TB drugs, which is a problem for people who don't take the entire treatment course.  Annually, TB kills 1.5 million people, which is about 5 times as many people as have died from COVID-19 to date.  The upshot, though, is that it is treatable, and even if untreated, most people will successfully fight off the bacterium, though they won't completely eliminate it.  In most patients, the bacterium will never reactivate, and even if untreated they will not develop active TB 90 - 95% of the time.  But especially in patients with immunosuppression (like HIV/AIDS), certain lung diseases, certain exposures (for example coal miners), or those taking certain medications (for example TNF inhibitors for rheumatoid arthritis), the disease can reactivate and the patient will become infectious.

BC

[BostonCard]

I had to LOL when I saw "and one tested positive for Tuberculosis."



It's not laughter from a hilarious joke, but just the absurdity of how much money we spend on all our defense apparatus and we can't even have infection control to stop infectious disease from rampaging through navy vessels?



TB is one of the most infectious diseases there is, even more than Covid.

My last trip before the shutdown, in mid-February was on a medical mission to Honduras.  While there, I diagnosed a patient with tuberculosis, though not until after he had entered my exam room and exposed me.  Ironically, at the height of COVID-19 pandemic, I thought if I developed a fever and cough, it was more likely to be due to TB than COVID-19.  Because of the pandemic, I still haven't been tested to see if I have a latent TB infection (since I am pretty asymptomatic, it is unlikely I have active TB, though you never know).

TB is a different challenge than COVID-19.  Yes, it is very infectious, in part because patients with active TB will be sick for a long time (the guy I diagnosed told me of over six months worth of fevers, cough, and weight loss) and though treatments for TB are available and effective, it takes a long time (6+ months) to treat it successfully.  It is also known to be spread by aerosols, so I would have needed an N95 to protect myself. The bacteria can also develop resistance to TB drugs, which is a problem for people who don't take the entire treatment course.  Annually, TB kills 1.5 million people, which is about 5 times as many people as have died from COVID-19 to date.  The upshot, though, is that it is treatable, and even if untreated, most people will successfully fight off the bacterium, though they won't completely eliminate it.  In most patients, the bacterium will never reactivate, and even if untreated they will not develop active TB 90 - 95% of the time.  But especially in patients with immunosuppression (like HIV/AIDS), certain lung diseases, certain exposures (for example coal miners), or those taking certain medications (for example TNF inhibitors for rheumatoid arthritis), the disease can reactivate and the patient will become infectious.

BC