Mercury - Health Dept finds other TB drugs Page 1 of 1

Health Dept finds other TB drugs

JOHANNESBURG: The Health Department has found a supplier of one of two drugs needed to
fight the Extreme Drug Resistant Tuberculosis (XDR-TB), which has become endemic in
KwaZulu-Natal.

Department spokeswoman Charity Bhengu said local pharmaceutical manufacturer Aspen had
agreed to supply capreomycin.

"And the process is under way to get a supplier for the second drug needed, para amino salicylic
acid," said Bhengu.

"These two additional drugs are not new inventions. They have been used for treatment of TB
before.

"These drugs are being reintroduced because of resistance to the first and second line of drugs."

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.

On Monday, Dr Tony Moll, Principal Medical Officer at the Church of Scotland Hospital in Tugela
Ferry in KwaZulu-Natal, said doctors in his area had been identifying new XDR-TB patients every
month since January last year. He said 10 new patients had been identified since March this
year.

The outbreak in Tugela Ferry had killed 60 people since January 2005, including eight who had
been admitted to hospital with XDR-TB between March and August this year. - Sapa

Published on the web by Mercury on September 13, 2006.

© Mercury 2006. All rights reserved.

http://www.themercury.co.za/general/print_article.php?fArticleId=3436050 9/13/2006