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Drug-resistant TB

MSF Frontline Podcast - In Cambodia, Improving TB Care

Cambodia has one of the highest tuberculosis burdens in the world, according to the World Health Organisation. TB and its drug-resistant forms can be extremely difficult to diagnose and treat, especially in resource-poor countries, where the disease takes advantage of immune systems weaken by malnutrition and HIV, and people have limited access to health care. MSF has been working to improve TB diagnosis, treatment, and training in southeastern city of Kampong Cham.
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Drug-resistant TB

MSF encountered cases of drug-resistant tuberculosis (TB) in the former Soviet Union in the 1990s. The TB mycobacterium had mutated into a form that was resistant to some of the drugs used in standard TB treatment. More and more people are contracting drug-resistant forms of TB either as a result of treatment failure or by coming directly into contact with the resistant form of the TB bacteria. A significant number of others go undiagnosed because the diagnostic tests that exist don’t work adequately, or are difficult to use and not adapted for remote settings.   TB opens up a new, more deadly front in people living with HIV. Because of the difficulties in diagnosing drug resistant TB in remote settings,...
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The Times: Book about hope keeps TB sufferer going

02 May 2012
Phumeza, Tisile, XDR-TB, Khayelitsha, MSF, extreme drug resistant tuberculosis
Phumeza is 21 years old and is currently confined to a bed in a tuberculosis (TB) care centre in Khayelitsha near Cape Town, South Africa. Photo: Samantha Reinders
PHUMEZA Tisile's favourite book, Redeeming Love, is about hope because that is what helps her get out of bed each day. The 21-year-old Khayelitsha resident has extremely drug-resistant TB, known as XDR-TB, and none of the medicines she has taken since her diagnosis in 2010 has been effective...   Read full article below
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The Times: Life-saving drug on hold

30 April 2012
XDR-TB, extreme drug resistant TB, MSF, MCC, TMC 207, turberculosis
XDR-TB survivor and peer counselor, Xoliswa Hermanus, helps a family member fit a mask to prevent TB infection during a home visit and group counseling session. Her mother, Jonas Cikizwa, is a woman infected with extremely drug-resistant tuberculosis (XDR-TB), HIV and diabetes. Photo: Jose Cendon.
Squabble over TB drug medical council prohibits use of Bedaquiline on critically ill TB patients. A drug with the potential to save the lives of drug-resistant TB suffers has been withheld until all clinical trials are completed. Despite a request by non-government organisations for the drug to be made available for compassionate use, the Medicines Control Council has refused. ...Medicins Sans Frontieres' advocacy officer, Mara Kardas-Nelson, said: "We're not trying to use Bedaquiline across the board but we want to use it for patients who have no other option."   Read full article below.
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Cape Times: Council asked to give TB drug the green light

01 April 2012
MSF, Etxtreme drug resistant tuberculosis, XDR TB, TMC207, South Africa
Tsilana, an MSF nurse, prepares an injected TB drug for Jonas Cikizwa, a woman infected with extremely drug-resistant tuberculosis (XDR-TB), HIV and diabetes. Photo: Jose Cendon.
A promising new drug now on trial offers the last hope for some patients with extreme drug resistant (XDR) tuberculosis. The life or death decision on whether to make it available rests with the Medicines Control Council (MCC). In a letter sent last week to the MCC and Health Minister Dr Aaron Motsoaledi, Medecins sans Frontieres (MSF) arid almost 50 doctors and scientists urged the regulatory body to consider the compassionate use of TMC207, a novel drug in Phase III trials... Read full article below.
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Open letter to the Medicines Control Council of South Africa

12 April 2012
To: Ms. M Hela, Registrar of Medicines. By e-mail Professor PFK Eagles, Medicines Control Council, Chairperson. By e-mail Dr. NE Khomo, Medicines Control Council, Vice-Chair. By e-mail Ms. P Nkambule, MCC Clinical Evaluation & Trials, Clinical Trials Committee. By e-mail Dr S Munbodh, MCC Clinical Evaluation & Trials, Section 21. By e-mail   CC: The Hon. Dr. Aaron Motsoaledi, Minister Of Health. By fax Regarding: Compassionate use of bedaquiline for drug-resistant tuberculosis in South Africa Dear Registrar Hela, Professor Eagles, Dr. Khomo, Ms. Nkambule, Dr. Munbodh and Honourable Minister Motsoaledi South Africa has a serious epidemic of drug resistant tuberculosis. Every year approximately 10...
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DR-TB Drugs Under the Microscope

22 March 2011
DR-TB Drugs Under the Microscope
DR-TB Drugs Under the Microscope
MSF's new report outlines the issues surrounding access to DR-TB drugs, including - the limited number of quality sources, including few quality assured producers and limited sources of the active pharmaceutical ingredient; limited affordability, due to drug price variables and prices that have increased ; and the need to produce drugs suitable for children and people with HIV.
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Five Lives: Getting on to effective TB treatment earlier

27 October 2011
Getting on to effective TB treatment earlier
Getting on to effective TB treatment earlier
Life 3: Phumeza South Africa 2011 © Samantha Reinder " I had so many different tests but they still couldn't see what was wrong. I just got more sick." At 21 years old Phumeza should have her whole life to look forward to. Right now she’s confined to a bed in a tuberculosis (TB) care centre in Khayelitsha near Cape Town, South Africa on treatment for the most virulent form of TB currently known –  extensively drug-resistant TB, or XDR-TB.  Last year for the first time in ten years the number of people dying from TB worldwide dropped but still every year we miss diagnosing and treating around three million cases of TB. And half of those...
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SWAZILAND: A new ward to treat patients with drug resistant tuberculosis

30 September 2011
Swaziland's new TB ward built by MSF
Swazilnad: MSF builds a TB ward
Mbabane - Last week, the first patients infected with drug resistant tuberculosis (DR-TB) were admitted in a new wing at Nhlangano Health Centre, in the Shiselweni region (southern Swaziland). The facility was constructed by MSF through private donations. The Ministry of Health and MSF teams will be jointly running this new facility. Watch this video: TB Ward in Swaziland  The new DR-TB wing can attend to a maximum of 30 patients. International standards for infection control were integrated with the use of natural ventilation. The ward also includes a laboratory with state-of-the-art technology. Amongst the features MSF is proud to introduce the molecular analyser, which detects...
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CAPE TIMES: HIV/TB: No chance of success without an integrated solution

01 September 2011
TB, HIV, South Africa
Patients with HIV and tuberculosis wear masks while waiting for treatment at a clinic in Khayelitsha. In South Africa, 5.5 million people live with HIV/Aids, more than in any other country, while 33 million people live vith the disease worldwide. Picture: REUTERS
HIV is a relatively new disease in South Africa, with the first deaths from Aids occurring in 1982. Tuberculosis (TB) has a much longer history, reflective of the industrial and demographic processes which shaped our country's past and which continue to impact on our health outcomes today... South Africa has learnt valuable lessons from promoting treatment adherence for people infected with HIV. These need to be applied to TB... Health care workers, civil society and the government must now work together to make these promises a reality. Lynne Wilkinson is the deputy head of mission for MSF (Doctors Without Borders) in South Africa. Read full article below.
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by Dr. Radut.