Incurable TB claims two more lives in city

Both women were suffering from disease for over 3 yrs; docs say no cause for panic.

Two more patients, who were detected to be suffering from totally drug resistant tuberculosis (TDR-TB) by PD Hinduja hospital, died last week, said doctors at the Mahim hospital.

Last week, Hinduja Hospital had confirmed that it had found 12 patients to be suffering from TDR-TB, an incurable condition where the patients do not respond to the first and second line of treatment. One of the 12 TDR-TB patients had died last year.

The two women who died last week were 31 and 37 years old. Both had been suffering from tuberculosis for more than three years.

HT Image

“These patients were very critical. There is no need for the public to panic,” said Dr Zarir F Udwadia, consultant physician who co-authored the study confirming the TDR-TB cases.

A 31-year-old patient from Dharavi died a few months ago after undergoing a surgery to remove one of her infected lungs at Hinduja hospital.

According to the hospital, the 12 patients were undergoing a salvage regime of drugs that had been written about in scientific journals. One of the patients is a 13-year old girl. Ten patients who were detected as TDR-TB patients were from Mumbai.

Reading about reports of detection of TDR-TB in India, the World Health Organisation (WHO) will hold an urgent meeting to review the evidence.

The data about the TDR-TB patients was published in a scientific journal, Clinical Infectious Diseases Advance Access on December 21. Dr Udwadia, along with Dr Camilla Rodrigues, the head of microbiology department, Hinduja, and their students had written the scientific paper.