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CNN Live At Daybreak

New Strains of Tuberculosis Resistant to Medicine

Aired March 25, 2002 - 05:45   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: In medical news, tuberculosis has been on a steady decline since the 19th century. Nearly 16,000 new cases were reported, however, in the United States in 2001, but medical researchers are disturbed that some newer strains of TB are resistant to standard medicine and are spreading worldwide.

CNN's Christy Feig takes a look.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CHRISTY FEIG, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): This man, who didn't want his name used, caught his second case of TB four years ago.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: One day I start coughing and I had blood in my spit.

FEIG: But this time it was resistant to the best TB medicines.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: TB changed my life drastically. I haven't worked in four years.

FEIG: The only option left was to remove part of his lung.

(on camera): Experts say it's important to catch TB early because it spreads like wildfire. But the biggest problem is this multi-drug-resistant TB.

(voice-over): What makes that worrisome to researchers is how much more people travel from country to country in our increasingly small world.

REBECCA STEVENS, TB FIELD WORKER: TB is a community disease. One person with TB can make a million people sick.

FEIG: So what can you do? Be wary of tight spaces and long-term exposure to people with persistent coughs. Prisons, hospitals and poverty stricken neighborhoods are good incubators. Once this drug- resistant TB strikes, the only way to contain it is to take every dose every day.

Rebecca Stevens works with the New Jersey University of Medicine. Her job, to watch each patient swallow each pill.

STEVENS: Most of my patients take medicine for at least 18 months.

FEIG: These house calls are time-consuming and expensive, but it's the best way to keep regular TB from ever becoming drug resistant.

Christy Feig, CNN, Newark, New Jersey.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

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