Completely drug-resistant strain of TB reported in India

[Mosasauria]

*Raises Pakistani flag and chants in Pashto*
I support Pakistan!

To be fair.

If we did, how badly would the world economy be affected?

Probably pretty bad. No more tech support.

[Lackadaisical2]

if TB could talk, this is exactly what it would have said when anti biotics first came out. Look where it is now.

Just like drug resitant diseases develop, disease resistant people also develop.

Tuberculosis has been around for at least 15 000 years, and humans have developed little resistance thus far. Needless to say, any resistance to tuberculosis that might develop will be slow.

Little resistance would mean people were dying willy nilly from it (like the black death to Europeans or small pox for Nat. Amer.), its nothing like 'little resistance'.

Mortality rates seemed to have hovered around 5 per 1000 per year(significantly less than that when people started to learn about it, even before a serious treatment had been developed), sure that'd be a huge jump for the first world, but its not really indicative of something which would cause all hell to break loose.

[New Sapienta]

To be fair.

If we did, how badly would the world economy be affected?

Probably pretty bad. No more tech support.

Although right now we would only need to nuke Mombai....

[Allanea]

You're just deliberately oversimplifying it.

1. Nuclear fireballs are not miles wide unless its' the Tsar Bomba or something.

2. If you cannot get into shelter, hiding under a desk is a good idea because unless your house is outright flattened by the nuke, it will protect you from things like shrapnel and glass shards (the main killers in nuclear attacks and bombing raids).

but not fire or radiation.

Fire and radiation are only part of the concerns in nuclear warfare.

If we could protect people from shrapnel, less people would die. If they survived the initial blast they could then rapidly run to a fallout shelter or whatever. Not perfect, but less people would die.

[Allanea]

I suspect this whole TB thing is the new SARS scare FTR.

[Uragarr]

The Uragato Medical Association have a method of curing such a thing they're going to die anyway so just kill them before they can pass on the disease. Don't worry it's done humanely. Also this disease can be a good way of faking the deaths of your political enemies.

[Yuktova]

Oh my Cthulu.
This is not good at all. Not good.

[Norstal]

I suspect this whole TB thing is the new SARS scare FTR.

TB is more dangerous than a mere flu...

[Durmatagno]

Oh my Cthulu.
This is not good at all. Not good.

World of Darkness/Call of Cthulu/Forsaken/Masqerade referance, nice

Back on topic, this is really bad news for india, and should it spread, the rest of the world.

[The Greater Aryan Race]

I suspect this whole TB thing is the new SARS scare FTR.

SARS was bad enough. Where I come from, SARS hit us pretty hard and quite a number of people died due to the virus.

[Avenio]

Little resistance would mean people were dying willy nilly from it (like the black death to Europeans or small pox for Nat. Amer.), its nothing like 'little resistance'.

It was a very common disease in the centuries before antibiotics, though. It wasn't nearly as bad as the bubonic plague during the 14th century, but it was up their with all of the other scourges.

Mortality rates seemed to have hovered around 5 per 1000 per year(significantly less than that when people started to learn about it, even before a serious treatment had been developed), sure that'd be a huge jump for the first world, but its not really indicative of something which would cause all hell to break loose.

Oh, I agree, it's definitely not apocalypse-causing, at least not in the West. If it broke containment and spread here at maximum, it'd put a great deal of strain on the healthcare system, but it wouldn't collapse it or anything.

[Allanea]

I suspect this whole TB thing is the new SARS scare FTR.

SARS was bad enough. Where I come from, SARS hit us pretty hard and quite a number of people died due to the virus.

But it was never the new uber-duper-plague the media pretended it was.

In total, 916 people died from SARS around the globe.

[Norstal]

SARS was bad enough. Where I come from, SARS hit us pretty hard and quite a number of people died due to the virus.

But it was never the new uber-duper-plague the media pretended it was.

In total, 916 people died from SARS around the globe.

Well, probably because all the health organizations stopped it. You know.

[Allanea]

But it was never the new uber-duper-plague the media pretended it was.

In total, 916 people died from SARS around the globe.

Well, probably because all the health organizations stopped it. You know.

Could it be that humanity is very good at stopping infectious disease?

[The Greater Aryan Race]

But it was never the new uber-duper-plague the media pretended it was.

In total, 916 people died from SARS around the globe.

I thought it was much less than that. I hear it was 775.

But frankly speaking, this whole TB business reminds me of Contagion. Whether resistant-TB will ever be the new Black Death, we might never know. But then again, if we did know, it's probably a bit too late then isn't it?

[Allanea]

In the 21st century we know how to stop the spread of infectious disease. Even if it was perfectly incurable and untreatable, it's not unstoppable.

[Costa Fiero]

Reminds me somewhat of my dead grandad.

Glad I was immunised after we found out he had TB.

[Nightkill the Emperor]

This wasn't what was supposed to happen.

The experiment would have quickly destroyed Pakistan, ending that miserable country swiftly and without resorting to nuclear weapons. It would have been contained to only that area, and we would have done the whole world a favor. After immunizing ourselves, we would have promptly threatened the world with our biological superweapon, and showed those bloody Yanks not to yell at us over the phone again...

But things got out of hand.

I received news from one of the lead scientists that they were missing a vial.

Indian Bureaucrats had taken one, and sold it to God knows who or what.

But then we found the first cases, in Iran. Then they came back home to India.

We attacked the virus within our borders, but found that it was adapting quickly. The virus was sentient, quickly multiplying, growing stronger, simply absorbing whatever we threw at it.

It spread out of India. It went to Bangladesh, Pakistan, Nepal, China, USA, UK....

A million dead in the first day. Twenty million dead in the first week. A billion dead within a year.

Then the dead began to return. The corpses simply stood back up as they rotted, and began attacking again, laying siege to Amritsar, which has become a refugee center for the uninfected and the few immune.

It's up to us to hold the line now. And now we will fight. We will repent for our sins, our mistakes...we will destroy the

INFECTION.
(Coming to theaters and IMAX whenever the fuck we feel like. We have the unkillable TB, you gonna question us?)

[Maroza]

[Aryavartha]

Given the kind of more pressing challenges that Indian medical system faces and the resources available and it efficiency, rest assured that close to nothing will be done about this.

In any average hospital in India, the first thing they do is when you get admitted for ANYTHING is to put you on glucose drips and inject you with anti-biotics. I think a lot more strains are developed by this.

I have now returned from a decade in the US to live in India. While I am a bit resilient and have not taken any medicines for the past ten years, I am worried about my one year old. She better gets some robust immunity or she will be in trouble here...

[Great Nepal]

Nuke all of India from orbit...
only way to be sure.

Anyway since I am vaccinated (along with most people I care about), guess it isn't much of problem for me.

[Avenio]

Anyway since I am vaccinated (along with most people I care about), guess it isn't much of problem for me.

The TB vaccination only works on a particular strain of the bacteria, as far as I can tell. The type that is vaccinated against is the most common variety of TB, but I don't think this particular resistant strain is covered by the vaccine.

[Norstal]

Well, probably because all the health organizations stopped it. You know.

Could it be that humanity is very good at stopping infectious disease?

Probably.

Well, the problem with a drug-resistant TB is that it means our antibiotics sucks. Our antibiotics didn't used to suck. Now we have to make new antibiotics. The cycle repeats itself.

[Episarta]

Well if we cannot cure these new strains easily, or at all, with our current drugs, Then the people infected with these new strains should be quarantined immediately. We don't need them going around infecting everyone else.

And, if necessary, force should be used to stop it from spreading much further.

[Sovereign Spirits]

If you keep downing antibiotics like candy, you'll definitely have no chance against this. Unless you absolutely need them, stay away from antibiotics and let your own body do the work, as it should. Again, if you can (that is, if your immune system isn't already screwed - But antibiotics are not helping to make it any stronger, they're a temporary solution).

For now, you should focus on staying as healthy as you can. Avoid toxins, get your exercise, keep your nutrients in surplus. Without drugs to treat it, your body is either going to fight it and live, or fight it and die. But it's going to fight. Make sure it's prepared.