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Rare Form of Tuberculosis Reappears in California
by
Rachel Balik
A nearly obsolete strain of TB crops up among Hispanic immigrants consuming unpasteurized dairy products.
30-Second Summary
The Mycobacterium bovis tuberculosis strain was essentially purged from the United States in the early 1900s, but it’s on the rise in southern California among Hispanic immigrant populations who produce and consume “bathtub cheese.” Families use milk from cattle in Mexico, where 17 percent of herds are infected with what researchers call a “disease of antiquity.”
Most of the cases reported involve children who have eaten unpasteurized, infected dairy products. Some families are also making a living by selling queso fresco from street carts. The cheese they sell is produced in bathtubs or in troughs in backyards. Often the milk has been smuggled in from Mexico and carries disease. Anyone who purchases this street cheese can be affected. Demand is high: 108 millions pounds of legal queso fresco was produced last year in California.
Scientists want to attack the disease before it spreads further. Although it is not transmitted as easily as regular TB with coughing, breathing and touching, it is typically resistant to drug therapy. “It is important that it not be allowed to re-emerge as a cause of TB in this country,” said Timothy Rodwell, a researcher at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Doctors are also participating in an initiative to treat TB on both sides of the Mexican-U.S. border.
Most of the cases reported involve children who have eaten unpasteurized, infected dairy products. Some families are also making a living by selling queso fresco from street carts. The cheese they sell is produced in bathtubs or in troughs in backyards. Often the milk has been smuggled in from Mexico and carries disease. Anyone who purchases this street cheese can be affected. Demand is high: 108 millions pounds of legal queso fresco was produced last year in California.
Scientists want to attack the disease before it spreads further. Although it is not transmitted as easily as regular TB with coughing, breathing and touching, it is typically resistant to drug therapy. “It is important that it not be allowed to re-emerge as a cause of TB in this country,” said Timothy Rodwell, a researcher at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Doctors are also participating in an initiative to treat TB on both sides of the Mexican-U.S. border.
Headline Link: Tainted cheese fuels TB rise in California
Although the number of cases of M. bovis TB is still small, researchers at the CDC are concerned because the number of infected people is rising. This strain of TB is fairly drug resistant and therefore more deadly than other forms of TB. It’s generally not transmitted person to person, but as the demand for queso fresco increases, so does the number of people exposed to illegally produced, infected cheese. “I wouldn’t want to characterize it as increasing in epidemic proportions,” director of San Diego’s TB program Dr. Kathleen Moser said. But between 1994 and 2005, the number of cases rose from 17 to 28.
Source: MSNB
Related Topic: Tuberculosis in Mexico
Traditional tuberculosis is more prevalent in Mexico than in the United States, as treatment and accurate screening for the disease are less available there. Both American tourists to Tijuana and immigrants carry TB into the United States; approximately 25 percent of reported U.S. cases originated in Mexico.
Source: 10news.com
Reference: Preventing the spread of M. bovis and other forms of TB
The New York City Bureau of Tuberculosis Control provides a M. bovis TB fact sheet that answers basic questions about the disease and how it is recognized, treated and transmitted. It also advises on how to safely select dairy products.
Source: NYC.gov
The San Diego County Tuberculosis Control Program has PDFs of disease statistics available for download. The TB Control Program is also affiliated with a binational group devoted to facilitating the “continuity of care and management of patients with tuberculosis moving between the United States and Mexico.”
Source: San Diego County Tuberculosis Control Program
The most recent study conducted on the binational spread of M. bovis TB is available on the CDC site.
Source: Center for Disease Control
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