
Health Editor’s Note: Let’s hope this does not cost an arm and a leg….Carol
F.D.A. Approves New Treatment for Deadliest Strain of Tuberculosis
by Meilan Solly Smithsonian.com
Seventy-five percent of individuals who contract extensively drug-resistant tuberculosis die before receiving a diagnosis, Donald G. McNeil Jr. reports for the New York Times. Of those who live long enough to seek treatment—an arduous regimen requiring patients to undergo antibiotic injections and take up to 40 pills daily for as long as two years—just 34 percent are ultimately cured.
Still, a new approach developed by the nonprofit TB Alliance is poised to revolutionize treatment for the tens of thousands affected by the so-called XDR strain, as well as the more common multidrug-resistant variation. Instead of subjecting patients to a lengthy cycle of side effect-inducing medications, the BPaL regimen—shown to have a 90 percent success rate when tested on a trial group of 109 participants—cuts the number of drugs down to three: bedaquiline, pretomanid and linezolid. Per Medical Xpress, the treatment involves five pills taken orally for a duration of six months.
Matthew Kavanagh, a health policy expert at Georgetown University, says that pretomanid, newly approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, “could be a major breakthrough.” Speaking with the Los Angeles Times, he adds, “It shifts XDR-TB from most likely a death sentence to likely survivable with effective treatment.”

Carol graduated from Riverside White Cross School of Nursing in Columbus, Ohio and received her diploma as a registered nurse. She attended Bowling Green State University where she received a Bachelor of Arts Degree in History and Literature. She attended the University of Toledo, College of Nursing, and received a Master’s of Nursing Science Degree as an Educator.
She has traveled extensively, is a photographer, and writes on medical issues. Carol has three children RJ, Katherine, and Stephen – one daughter-in-law; Katie – two granddaughters; Isabella Marianna and Zoe Olivia – and one grandson, Alexander Paul. She also shares her life with her husband Gordon Duff, many cats, and two rescues.
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