TB woman's family 'fine'

2006-09-15 12:05

Johannesburg - Relatives and others who made contact with the Gauteng woman carrying extreme multi-drug-resistant tuberculosis (XDR-TB) have not contracted the disease, provincial health officials said on Friday.

"If there was a problem with the woman's family members and individuals she made contact with, the health department would say so," spokesperson Zanele Zungu said.

The woman, in her 20s, was diagnosed with the disease last Friday at the Sizwe Tropical Disease hospital but refused treatment.

She then discharged herself and was re-admitted on Wednesday after health officials launched a search for her.

Immediate family members and individuals who made contact with her were tested on Wednesday for TB, and their progress was to be monitored for the next six months.

The woman told health officials that when she discharged herself from the Sizwe Hospital in Edenvale, she did not have contact with members of the public, said Zungu.

"Her partner transported her home and she stayed there until we fetched her".

On Thursday the health MEC, Brian Hlongwa, visited the hospital and assured the public that the department had the knowledge and resources to deal effectively with the TB strain.

"There are standard protocols in place to deal with issues of this nature and the department has begun to implement them," said Hlongwa.

Clinics and hospitals in Gauteng have been instructed to increase their vigilance in the screening and testing of TB patients to ensure early detentions of the MDR-TB, said Zungu.

Hlongwa urged patients to finish their six-month course of treatment to curb similar cases of TB.

The XDR form of the disease has claimed at least 50 lives at Tugela Ferry in Kwazulu-Natal since January 2005.

XDR-TB is a virulent form of TB which is resistant to the two drugs used to treat multi-drug-resistant TB, and to which people with HIV and Aids are particularly susceptible.

- SAPA