XDR-TB identified in the Western Cape

By Chanel September
3 February 2007

Two cases of the extremely drug resistant tuberculosis, XDR–TB, have been identified in the Western Cape.

The provincial health department confirmed that an 11-month-old baby girl was being treated in Brooklyn Chest TB Hospital. The other patient, a woman from the Eastern Cape, is being treated in isolation at Lentegeur Hospital.

Last year over 300 cases of XDR–TB were reported across the country.

It recorded 263 cases in KwaZulu-Natal, 10 cases each in the Eastern Cape and the North West, eight in Gauteng, six in Free State, three in Limpopo and two in the Northern Cape. But none were reported in Mpumalanga and the Western Cape, reports say.

Spokesperson Miranda Anthony says the department was following up on all people who had been in close contact with the patients in isolation.