Like the common flu, TB has many different strains. Treating some of these strains can be very costly, but fortunately most strains can be treated with the most widely available drugs, and which happen to cost the least. A patient in Africa, where the majority of TB cases occur, can be cured for around fifty or sixty dollars. TB cases that develop into resistant strains, and require long-term hospitalization, can cost fifteen or twenty thousand dollars, and usually end in death.
Here in the states we are faced with, "Super Bugs," viruses that are immune to widely available antibiotics. The super bugs have developed over the years primarily because patients did not follow doctors orders and complete the full treatment prescribed. They started feeling better and quit taking their medication. This allowed the remaining bug to become resistant to the medication, growing stronger as time went on, and ultimately passed onto others in a variety of ways.
The main difference though between the, "Super Bugs," in the states and TB in Africa is the drugs used in treatment themselves. In this country one can feel confident in the fact that they are ingesting quality medication, manufactured under the watchful eye of the FDA. In Africa there are no such guarantees, and fake or sub-standard medications coming from China and Africa itself, (and India to a much lesser extent,) are a common occurrence. Roughly thirty percent of the medications tested were found to be sub-standard, not having enough medication in each pill, or outright fakes. So even when the African patient follows doctor's orders to the letter there is a very good chance they may still die from the disease.
How big of a problem is this? Twenty-five percent of the world's population has TB, the vast majority of cases in Africa. TB can lay low for years and years until the carrier becomes infected with another disease such as HIV, then all bets are off. Without treatment the TB patient stands a 50-50 chance of dying, just under two million doing exactly that in 09'. This is a huge health care problem, and one if not addressed soon will likely affect other nations in the not too distant future. Never mind Obamacare as a threat to the existence of health insurance companies in the states, and first and foremost considering the loss of human life if a TB epidemic did occur here, imagine what such an epidemic would do to health insurance companies in the United States. No business, no matter their size or amount of financial reserves they may have, could withstand such a thing.
Treating TB requires quite a bit of effort on the patients part, but until something else better comes along we must insure that these patients are receiving quality medication, and thoroughly educated on the prescribed method of treatment. For fifty bucks a TB patient can save their life, but they must also ingest up to fifteen pills a day for half a year. The least we can do is remove the sub-standard and fake medications from Africa's marketplace.
Michael Higgins, the principal of Michael Higgins Insurance, has more than 30 years as a Blue Cross Blue Shield of Arizona health insurance broker The vast knowledge accumulated over the years makes him proficient not only in understanding your health insurance needs, but also in pointing out the differences among other Arizona health insurance plans and the numerous plans offered by Blue Cross Blue Shield of Arizona.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Mike_Higgins
Here in the states we are faced with, "Super Bugs," viruses that are immune to widely available antibiotics. The super bugs have developed over the years primarily because patients did not follow doctors orders and complete the full treatment prescribed. They started feeling better and quit taking their medication. This allowed the remaining bug to become resistant to the medication, growing stronger as time went on, and ultimately passed onto others in a variety of ways.
The main difference though between the, "Super Bugs," in the states and TB in Africa is the drugs used in treatment themselves. In this country one can feel confident in the fact that they are ingesting quality medication, manufactured under the watchful eye of the FDA. In Africa there are no such guarantees, and fake or sub-standard medications coming from China and Africa itself, (and India to a much lesser extent,) are a common occurrence. Roughly thirty percent of the medications tested were found to be sub-standard, not having enough medication in each pill, or outright fakes. So even when the African patient follows doctor's orders to the letter there is a very good chance they may still die from the disease.
How big of a problem is this? Twenty-five percent of the world's population has TB, the vast majority of cases in Africa. TB can lay low for years and years until the carrier becomes infected with another disease such as HIV, then all bets are off. Without treatment the TB patient stands a 50-50 chance of dying, just under two million doing exactly that in 09'. This is a huge health care problem, and one if not addressed soon will likely affect other nations in the not too distant future. Never mind Obamacare as a threat to the existence of health insurance companies in the states, and first and foremost considering the loss of human life if a TB epidemic did occur here, imagine what such an epidemic would do to health insurance companies in the United States. No business, no matter their size or amount of financial reserves they may have, could withstand such a thing.
Treating TB requires quite a bit of effort on the patients part, but until something else better comes along we must insure that these patients are receiving quality medication, and thoroughly educated on the prescribed method of treatment. For fifty bucks a TB patient can save their life, but they must also ingest up to fifteen pills a day for half a year. The least we can do is remove the sub-standard and fake medications from Africa's marketplace.
Michael Higgins, the principal of Michael Higgins Insurance, has more than 30 years as a Blue Cross Blue Shield of Arizona health insurance broker The vast knowledge accumulated over the years makes him proficient not only in understanding your health insurance needs, but also in pointing out the differences among other Arizona health insurance plans and the numerous plans offered by Blue Cross Blue Shield of Arizona.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Mike_Higgins
