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News/Event Item
In South Africa, TB Patients Behind Barbed Wire
March 24, 2008
By Celia W. Dugger
The Jose Pearson TB Hospital here is like a prison for the sick. It is encircled by three fences topped with coils of razor wire to keep patients infected with lethal strains of tuberculosis from escaping.
But at Christmastime and again for Easter, dozens of them cut holes in the fences, slipped through electrified wires or pushed through the gates in a desperate attempt to spend the holidays with their families. Patients have been tracked down and forced to return; the hospital has quadrupled the number of guards. Many of the patients fear they will only get out of here in a coffin.
"We're being held here like prisoners, but we didn't commit a crime," Siyasanga Lukas, 20, who has been here since 2006, said before escaping this week. "I've seen people die and die and die. The only discharge you get from this place is to the mortuary."
© 2008 the International Herald Tribune
For full article, visit:
http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/03/24/africa/saf.php
Related Article:
Patients with Killer-TB are Still Missing
http://www.dispatch.co.za/article.aspx?id=185898
Related Article:
Mutant Gene Linked to Most Severe Type of TB: Study
http://www.reuters.com/article/healthNews/idUSSHA1346520080328
category: News from Other Sources : General Health News
contributed by Liza Nanni on 27 March 2008
Africa :
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