Outbreak of TB in South Africa May Effect Millions

When an outbreak of tuberculosis killed 52 of 53 infected patients in South Africa last year, international concern arose. This strain of TB is drug-resistant and is considered incurable. Many critics point to South Africa, one of the most developed countries in Sub-Saharan Africa, and believe their "sluggish response to a health emergency" could cause the virus to cross boarder and threaten the lives of millions. The virus is all ready believed to have reached Lesotho, Swaziland, and Mozambique and perhaps even Zimbabwe. The outbreak is just beginning to be researched in order to find the source and try to slow its progression in which the international community believes to be a response that is wasting precious time. If South Africa who is more developed then its neighbor cannot handle this disease, one can only begin to imagine how its neighbors will be affected. Although TB has also broken out in different parts of the world, this case is of particular concern because HIV greatly increases the risk of contracting and dying from the disease. One can only hope the virus is contained before it spreads to another country such as Zimbabwe in which the HIV/AIDS rates are extraordinarily high and TB would only cause more havoc in a country which cannot even feed its people yet alone contain a virus that South Africa was unable to handle. Unfortunately though it is likely this disease will spread because as one doctor notes, "it's an emergency, and we are not reacting like its an emergency," a theme which seems to be present far too often in African politics.