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'Killer TB' patients still gone
08/01/2008 13:23 - (SA)
Johannesburg - Eight of the group of XD-R and MD-R patients who ran away from two hospitals in the Eastern Cape are still unaccounted for, the Eastern Cape health department said on Tuesday.
"There's only one patient missing in Fort Grey and seven from Jose Pearson hospital. The others were traced yesterday (Monday) afternoon," said spokesperson Siyanda Manana.
Manana said the department would continue until all the remaining number of patients were returned to hospital.
The department embarked on a door-to-door search last week.
Relatives of the patient who had symptoms such as sweating, tiredness, loss of appetite and persistent coughing were urged to go to their nearest clinics and get tested.
XD-R TB is an extensive drug resistant TB that is virtually untreatable and is spread by coughing or sneezing. Therefore movements of patients who carry it should ideally be temporarily restricted, because they pose a major threat to public health.
The patients escaped from the hospital through holes they cut through the perimeter fence.
- SAPA
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