South Africa Many patients discharged without cure

Tuberculosis: In South Africa many patients are discharged

01/19/2014

In South Africa, patients with tuberculosis resistant to antibiotics are regularly discharged from hospitals seriously ill because there are not enough beds available. For the people in their environment this represents a great danger.

Deadly danger to the environment of the sick
Although they have not healed, patients with antibiotic-resistant tuberculosis are regularly discharged from the clinic in South Africa. For the people around them, this poses a deadly danger, as in one in the trade magazine „The Lancet“ published study is called. Study leader Keertan Dheda from the University of Cape Town said: „Nationwide there are systematically unsuccessful treatments and patient discharge“ from the hospital. For several years, the Professor of Pulmonology and his team followed the fate of 107 patients from three South African provinces treated for so-called XDR tuberculosis.

Three-quarters of patients died after four years
XDR stands for Extensively Drug-Resistant and means that the pathogens are resistant to all first-line tuberculostatics and to at least two second-line tuberculostatics. Of the patients observed, 44 were also infected with HIV. Four years after the start of the investigation, 79 patients had already died, which corresponds to 74 percent. Forty-five patients had been discharged from the clinic during the study period. In about 50 percent of them had not struck the treatment, so they left the clinic so seriously ill. On average, they died 20 months after their release, and during that time, they posed a huge threat to their lives.

Urgently more accommodations needed
Using a DNA analysis of a tuberculosis pathogen, the researchers were able to prove that one of the patients infected his brother, who later died of lung disease. „Many patients who did not receive the treatment are simply discharged because there are few beds in tuberculosis hospitals and there are no alternative long-term shelters or death homes“, so Dheda. To tackle the problem, more housing would urgently need to be created, as well as improved treatment options at home.

Highest infection rates in southern Africa
The South African study draws attention to the dangers posed by multidrug-resistant pathogens. Among other things, these could be due to the misuse of antibiotics. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), although tuberculosis is on the decline worldwide, it is still leading the world in deadly infectious disease statistics. According to her, more than 1.4 million people died in 2012. Last year, WHO warned that there was too little progress in the control of resistant tuberculosis pathogens. The highest infection rates worldwide are found in South Africa and Swaziland. The spread is favored there in particular by insufficient hygienic conditions and very populated areas. South Africa is also particularly affected by the resistant pathogens.

Low problem in Germany
To date, tuberculosis is relatively widespread, especially in Asia, Africa and the Eastern European countries. In Germany, the problem is relatively low, but according to the Robert Koch Institute rise in children in this country, the infection numbers. Most occur as a consumption or „the moths“ known disease as infection of the lung, wherein persistent cough, chronic fatigue, weight loss, fever with nocturnal sweat attacks and a sting in the chest can be signs of tuberculosis. Anyone who detects such symptoms should urgently consult a doctor, as untreated tuberculosis in about 50 percent of cases leads to the death of those affected. (Ad)