78 TB cases reported at Tokyo elderly care center

The infections might have spread as the man, who died in April, was seen walking around the wing and spitting on people, according to the report.

That'll do it every time.

In any case, a facility like this should be conducting annual TB tests of both patients and staff, especially given that TB, while not as common as it used to be, is increasingly resistant to existing pharmaceutical therapies.

"Care" center? Hmm.

Hell has a name. The dementia care wing of Tokyo Oume Hospital.

Another example of gradual decay in Japanese infrastructure.

TB usually takes an awfully long time to develop. Perhaps the numbers are people who tested positive for antibodies, or otherwise may have latent TB. People that have vaccines against TB can be false positives for a long time, I had that issue for a long time thanks to TB vaccine.

The bigger question is why the doctors allowed a person who is actively attacking others walk around without a full battery of exams. Especially true if the man did this after diagnosis.

Luckily, active TB has 96% remission rate with antibiotics, and TB in general only has a 10-15% active rate (85%+ of infections never become active). Not sure how well the elderly patients will do, but any staff has almost nothing to worry about.

"The infections might have spread as the man, who died in April, was seen walking around the wing and spitting on people, according to the report."

And what was done about it? Did they start testing the people spit on? Doesn't sound like it. All these 'care centers' are just places that accept huge amounts of cash for minimal care in return.

Wow... talk about dropping the ball.

zichi: "In Japan, there' are drug resistent forms of TB, and like other drug resistent diseases, mostly due to the over use of antibiiotics..."

I've been saying this for years, and still people get upset when you point it out. To be fair, it's not only Japan that super-abuses antibiotics, but I've never been in a nation where people get a giant bag of medicines for the common cold.

@wakarimasen

Another example of gradual decay in Japanese infrastructure.

This seems like a common phenomenon in industrialized countries going to seed...

http://www.wtsp.com/news/health/article/263133/12/Thousands-feared-exposed-to-Florida-TB-outbreak

The ongoing outbreak has coincided with the shutdown of Florida's only TB hospital - A.G. Holley in Lantana. The hospital closed last week after state lawmakers passed and Gov. Rick Scott signed legislation eliminating funding for the facility.

RIP to the victims, but this really seems quite scary. You would have hoped that the elderly man seen walking around spitting on people would have been restrained by a straight jacket and/or shackles and forced into solitary confinement. Sounds cruel, but it probably would have saved lives.

I wonder if he was actively spitting, or just tended to spray when he made his "T"s, "P"s, and "K"s?