One of the frustrating things about Swine Flu, other than people's blatant ignorance, is the amount of dedication our media and government have provided to this outbreak.
Recently, for my research, I have started to look at the correlation between TB and HIV. TB has been on the rise since 1980s, but this problem is more prevalent in Southeast Asia, and Africa. That is why we don't really care how it has become a major cause of death among HIV patients in Africa.
Usually when doctors misdiagnose a TB patient, or when the patient does not have the money to follow the dosing regimen properly, the bacteria becomes more deadly. HIV patients who come in contact with the deadly TB normally end up dying, since their immune system is already compromised. Basically, all because we do not have the means to educate the doctors, or the patients properly. And, I find that disappointing and gut-wrenchingly depressing.
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5 comments:
Hey Z-
VERY well written & informative post! You seem pretty dang smart for a girl. Seems people just simply panic w/o being informed- that in itself is kinda scary like the Flying-Monkey Butt-Flu!
I wrote some humorous (if I do say so myself & I do!) posts about it over at FLAST.
I posted 2 NEW fun thangs I hope to have regularly or semi-reg. One is TMI Tuesdays- the other is Wacky Wednesdays. Check 'em out if you get a chance. Tell ALL your friends!!! ;-)
Be well.
I just did a World Affairs project on African diseases, so this is all very familiar to me. Your research sounds very interesting.
The media and government have definitely been over-hyping swine flu. Now, it seems as if people should just treat this like a normal outbreak of influenza.
C. Louis Wolfe,
Thanks for reading. I checked out the posts you mentioned, but I am afraid I don't have anything interesting to say :(. But, I will keep an eye out for the aforementioned series.
changetheworld360,
In my high school World Issues class we mainly focused on the environmental problems, and the works of David Suzuki, a Canadian environmentalist. Your project on African diseases sounds very interesting and informative.
My research keeps me up at night. There hasn't been much done on this subject, which is inspiring and depressing/disheartening at the same time.
From the looks of it, we might have a vaccine for swine flu in 6 months. But, we haven't had a new drug for XDR-TB in very long.
Lol, I love the twitter stuff...
we did research on TB in Africa, and we came up with the same results you have. It's really depressing, yes.
Maria,
I am glad that you guys got a chance to learn about TB. I think that is a good start.
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