Mar. 18, 2004 - 18:56 MST

THE WONDERING JEW

Enemy

The old Pogo phrase, "We have met the enemy and he are us !" in many ways it is the truth. Drug resistant strains of many diseases are cropping up to bite at our heels.

Today I see an article by James K. Glassman, Scripps Howard News Service, titled, "Threat of TB spreading."

TB once a so-called disease with Romantic overtones. It was so easy to die on the stage, then too, according to Mr. Glassman, "Keats, Chekov, Thoreau, and Orwell were sufferers of the dread disease." He also states that, "its a horrifying way to die, you cough your life out."

Back in the past it was referred to as Consumption, probably a better term, it consumed the use of the lungs.

Mr. Glassman writes, "In the late 19th century, TB killed every seven people in Europe and America."

Now it is loose in the world, and spreading. Multi-drug-resistant TB, MDR TB has 90 thousand different strains. How did this start ? Mr. Glassman says, "They become resistant when patients with standard TB are given inadequate or incomplete treatment." I might also add that I think patients carry a part of the burden. Missed doses of prescibed medication and/or discontinuance of the medication when the patient feels better can be a big cause. Just like all the other ailments became resistant to drugs.

The horrifying thing Mr Glassman writes, "But TB persists. It is easily spread though the air when an infected person, coughs, sneezes or even talks. As a result, one-third of the world's population is carrying around the TB bacillus. (an estimation ?). You may have it yourself.

Mr. Glassman says further, "But for most people, TB remains dormant. Its activated by a breakdown in the immune system, caused in many cases by HIV." He mentioned, "The good news is that, with a course of relatively inexensivwe antibiotics, the standard strain of the disease is eminently curable in nearly all cases."

It appears to me that when you dont' take the full course of antibiotics because you feel better already, you killed the weak germs and the hardy germs multiply as well as mutate along the line.

And I don't think HIV alone is the cause of a breakdown of the immune system I think some other ailments cause that too.

Then I think surfaces should be suspect, who sneezed on it or touched it ? Do you talk to a stranger on the street ?

Should I live in fear now ? No, I don't think so. Being aware, I shall probably avoid being in certain places, try to maintain as good health as I can, rest as I should, exercise and if I get it - pray that is dormant. Once thought to be conquered TB comes roaring back, the old Enemy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

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