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Namibia: Drugs for Deadly TB 'On the Way'
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The Namibian (Windhoek)
17 June 2008
Posted to the web 17 June 2008
Christof Maletsky
Windhoek
A MONTH after Health Minister Dr Richard Kamwi officially announced the presence of the deadly extensively drug-resistant tuberculosis (XDR-TB) in Namibia, the country has yet to start treating the first eight cases.
"We are still waiting for three of the six drugs needed to treat the patients.
They should be here by the end of this month," Rosalia Indongo, head of the TB programme, told The Namibian yesterday.
She said no new cases have been reported over the past month and that all eight individuals remained in isolation as the Ministry tries to curb the deadly disease.
Five women and three men between the ages of 29 and 45 have been isolated at Oshakati (2), Walvis Bay (2), Katima Mulilo (1), Okahao (1), Onandjokwe (1) and Outapi (1).
Indongo said relatives have limited access to the patients, as the disease is regarded as a "threat to public health".
"The best protection for the community at the moment is to keep the patients away or isolated," she said.
XDR-TB is a severe form of tuberculosis and must be treated in a hospital in order to carefully monitor treatment and ensure that the highly resistant strain does not spread to other people.
Indongo said international health guidelines do not permit the Ministry of Health to give only three of the necessary six drugs to the patients - all six need to be given - and that was why the patients had yet to receive actual treatment for XRD.
She said it took time to access the drugs because they were very expensive and companies only produced them on request.
In the meantime, she said, renovations and alterations had started at the Oshakati State Hospital to meet international standards for patient isolation and infection control.
XDR is the worst form of TB and has seriously limited treatment options and chances of cure.
TB can usually be treated with a course of four standard, or first-line, anti-TB drugs.
However, if the drugs are misused or mismanaged, multi-drug-resistant TB (MDR-TB) develops and later progresses to extensively drug-resistant TB (XDR-TB).
In April The Namibian revealed that health professionals were quietly treating some cases of the deadly strain.
At the time, Minister Kamwi said they first needed to confirm the cases before making them public.
The Namibian had been aware of at least one case being treated at Walvis Bay since December.
Namibia has the second highest TB incidence in the world after Swaziland.
Last year the country recorded 15 241 TB cases.
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The TB situation is exacerbated by the HIV-AIDS epidemic in the country and co-infection.
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