The resistant strain normally develops when patients with ordinary TB stop taking their antibiotics because they feel better or they simply forget.
It used to be a plague. Tuberculosis, or “Consumption,” was a leading cause of death amongst the young in the 19th century, the killer of millions worldwide. A wasting disease attacking the lungs, it played a considerable role in the development of the vampire legend; many famous victims of “vampires” are now believed to have actually suffered from Tuberculosis. Advancement in medical technology has largely removed the fangs from this formerly terminal illness. It isn’t dangerous the way it used to be, when a cough and a drop of blood on a handkerchief signaled a certain early demise. But could it become again the scourge it once constituted?
It’s a disturbing scenario, a new strain of the pathogen, immune to the drugs that are currently used to keep it in check. The numbers are still relatively low, but growing, and scientists warn that the true number of known cases of “super TB” is not known. Possibly the worst part of it is that humans may be responsible for the development of this new threat. By ceasing to take the drugs necessary to combat regular TB before the disease has been eliminated from the body, a patient allows the bacteria, still present, to mutate and grow stronger. Yikes!