Drug resistant TB strain raises ethical dilemma

[bearringsd]

Man locked up indefinitely.

Wow. This is all sorts of complicated. I'm getting the sense that if they had the authority to execute the man and burn the remains they would, considering the treatment he's getting.

Comments

[mikeybill]

We are using the TB regs here in NZ to keep two HIV + guys in seclusion. They have both refused to take their meds properly and have both been caught having unsafe sex in public toilets.
The regs for TB confinement were written in the 1950s, and are broad enough to be applied to any infectious disease.

But, they are being kept under 24 hour supervision in a nice house, with a garden, and they are able to have visitors and go out with supervision.Both have a mental age of about 12. I wonder if this guy has any developmental or mental issues that aren't reported here?

How you deal with drug resistant TB is a big issue. TB used to be as lethal, if not more so, than AIDS, and just as feared.Now the new drug resistant strains are around, well it could well be on the return everywhere.

[sunsmogseahorse]

I think that the importance of mental health issues and developmental disability is at play here, despite the story not addressing that. Here we have an adult who knows that if he's in a room with others can give them an incurable, deadly disease. Yet he potentially exposed others. I doubt that he has the faculties to conduct himself unsupervised without endangering others. As MB points out, only uncooperative people who are mentally ill or developmentally disabled are isolated with infectious diseases as functional adults or supervised children can manage the risk of transmission to others just fine

[sunsmogseahorse]

Er, last sentence, first paragraph of that: not "only" but I would say "generally".

[sluggobear]

The guy is also not a native American, right? It sounds like they didn't understand TB in Russia the way we do.

[red_goatee]

hey! that's in Phoenix!