In the CDC podcast, it talks about the Multidrug-Resistant tuberculosis or MDR TB for short. Multidrug-Resistant Tuberculosis is tuberculosis that has survived and evolved into a stronger form. Tuberculosis is a disease caused by germs that are spread through the air. Tuberculosis usually affects the lungs, but it can also affect the brain, the kidneys and or the spine.
People should be very concerned with Multidrug Resistant Tuberculosis. MDR TB is a man made disease due to improper use of medications. MDR TB has resistance to at least 2 of the best anti-tuberculosis drug such as isoniazid and rifampin which are considered to be first line medications. MDR TB takes up to 2 years to treat and treatment cost more and is more toxic. This is very serious because as we use more dangerous drugs, the side effects could be worse and what if MDR TB evolves again? It might get to the point where the medications are too toxic to be used or don’t even work.
I was tested for Tuberculosis when I was a kid, luckily it was negative. The reason I was referred to be tested for TB was because I had asthma. Since TB affects the lungs, people who have asthma that get TB will be in a bad situation because now they have 2 diseases that affect their breathing. This is a very scary thought, because if TB and asthma hits the person at the same time, there is an increase chance that the person will suffocate to death.
Multidrug-Resistant Tuberculosis has changed the way diseases are treated in today’s society. It has made treatments to be stricter to the point where people come and watch the patients take their medications. I think this treatment process is a positive and effective approach because this way eliminates the odds of patients taking the wrong dose. Hopefully, with proper treatment diseases such as Multidrug-Resistant Tuberculosis will be less common and eventually eliminated.
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I like that you made a personal reference to the podcast. I think for me, I have no connection to the disease and it makes it harder to believe it's out there. But it is real and it is out there. It's so easy to get something so serious.
ReplyDeleteI feel that it's scary how diseases can do that now be resistant to drugs. I feel the same way you do about how this is a major concern, probably not as much as you since you really have a direct connection being tested for it when you were little. But it is a scary thought and I the same as you that Multdrug resistant TB will be less common and eventually eliminated.
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