A rare form of tuberculosis caused by illegal, unpasteurized dairy products, including the popular queso fresco cheese, is rising among Hispanic immigrants in Southern California and raising fears about a resurgence of a strain all but eradicated in the US. Cases of the Mycobacterium bovis strain of TB have increased in San Diego county, particularly among children who drink or eat dairy foods made from the milk of infected cattle. The germ can infect anyone who eats contaminated fresh cheeses sold by street vendors, smuggled across the Mexican border or produced by families who try to make a living selling so-called “bathtub cheese” made in home tubs and backyard troughs.
Unlike typical TB, caused by the M. tuberculosis strain, the bovine variety is not easily spread through human-to-human contact. It settles less often in the lungs, making it less likely to be transmitted through breathing and coughing. However, the M. bovis bug is resistant to front-line drug therapy and adults who contract it are more than twice as likely as those with traditional TB to die before treatment is complete.
At one point, TB was referred to as consumption, because it seemed to consume people from within, with a bloody cough, fever, pallor, and long relentless wasting. This week, a look at tuberculosis.
TTFN, Fred.
Quote of the week: "It's not so important who starts the game, but who finishes it." - John Wooden (retired American basketball coach, most notably at UCLA, 1910 - )
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