35 Hit by TB Drug-Resistant Disease Scare

Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 2000. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.

35 Hit by TB Drug-Resistant Disease Scare

Toronto Sun (www.canoe.ca/torontosun) (12/05/00) P. 4
Lem, Sharon

Health officials in Canada announced Monday that 35 people have contracted drug-resistant tuberculosis (TB) after an infected Caribbean man somehow slipped through the health- screening process when he immigrated to Canada late last year. The man had active drug-resistant TB, and a woman who lived with him became infected with the same strain in February. Their illness was only detected in September, and it has already cost C$500,000 to treat them. During the past 12 months, the two people came into close contact with over 1,000 people, most of whom have been tracked down. Of the more than 500 individuals who have been screened, thus far 35 have tested positive for TB. None of these people are contagious, however, and they are being treated with antibiotics for up to a year. Dr. Elizabeth Richardson, medical officer of health for Hamilton, said, "There's a cause for concern but not a cause for panic. This disease doesn't spread easily and the risk to anyone in the general public is 10 percent over a lifetime."
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