| XDR-TB will arrive in the U.S. at some point and then we'll see how public health collides with modern progressive/socialist civil liberties. |
South Africa's outbreak of extreme drug resistant tuberculosis (XDR-TB), which has killed at least 74 people in the last several months, may force authorities to override patients' personal rights in favor of the greater public's health, the study in the journal PLoS Medicine said.
"XDR-TB represents a major threat to public health. If the only way to manage it is to forcibly confine then it needs to be done," said Jerome Singh, study co-author and lawyer at Durban's Center for the AIDS Program of Research in South Africa. "Ultimately in such crises, the interests of public health must prevail over the rights of the individual."
TB, an airborne bacillus spread through coughing or sneezing, can usually be cured through treatment. However, the XDR-TB strain may have mutated when patients skipped treatment or were dispensed inadequate antibiotic cocktails.
South Africa has logged almost 400 cases of XDR-TB, which is virtually impervious to treatment by most common TB drugs, and an unprecedented 30 new cases are diagnosed every month, according to the study. The outbreak has alarmed medical experts who say XDR-TB poses a particular danger to HIV-positive people whose immune systems are already severely compromised by the AIDS virus.
South Africa's post-apartheid constitution contains some of the world's strongest safeguards of individual liberties and the government has thus far been silent on whether it may isolate XDR-TB patients. Singh said it is the public's duty to press the government into opening the debate.
In South Africa, XDR-TB patients may visit hospitals as out-patients and then go home, which means they can easily pass the disease in their community, the paper said.