New Immune Deficiency Disease Discovered Here In Thailand

[webfact]

New immune deficiency disease discovered here

Jitima Janphrom

The Nation

BANGKOK: -- A new immune-deficiency disease similar to systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) has been detected in Asians, especially in Taiwan, Hong Kong, the Philippines and Thailand, Dr Ploenjan Chetchotisak of Khon Kaen University’s faculty of medicine said yesterday.

Ploenjan said she had treated a patient diagnosed as having scrofula, who received treatment for many years but was not cured completely. Research by Srinagarind Hospital in Khon Kaen found that the patient fell into the category of non-tuberculous mycobacteria (NTM).

Srinagarind Hospital found 80 people who suffered from the disease in 2007. The hospital has teamed up with Chiang Mai University, Ramathibodi and Siriraj hospitals to conduct in-depth research about the disease on 129 people. The three hospitals believe it is a new immune-deficiency disease that is different from Aids and SLE.

"The new disease is different from Aids, under which the immune system is destroyed after people are infected with HIV. People who suffer from this new disease have antibodies that destroy the immunity of liver and blood cells. They experience hair falling out and rashes,'' Ploenjan said.

The disease has not been found in children but adults over 20 years old. People in the Thai Northeast have been most affected, followed by the North. The cause of the disease has not been clearly determined yet, aside from heredity and environmental factors.

The disease is not contagious among humans. One-third of those affected could develop chronic conditions. But there is no drug to cure the disease in Thailand. Patients are treated according symptoms. Foreign countries use drugs that treat rheumatoid arthritis, which cost up to Bt100,000 per visit.

The research team is looking for ways to treat the disease without having to import expensive drugs.

-- The Nation 2012-09-25

[noitom]

The newspaper article states that the Dr. treated a patient for scrofula "for many years" and the disease was not "completely cured." The article goes on to state that the "disease is not contagious among humans."

First of all - "for many years" without researching outside Thailand and with WHO raises competence and efficacy of treatment questions. Secondly, scrofula is in fact a form of tuberculosis which is caused by Mycobacterium scrofulaceum or Mycobacterium avium, a human air borne bacteria, according to the NY Times Health Section on this subject - http://health.nytimes.com/health/guides/disease/scrofula/overview.html

At issue also is the statement in the article that the antibiotics for scrofula are used in "foreign countries" to treat rheumatoid arthritis. A search of the four widely used antibiotics for scrofula reveal that they are all for scrofula type tuberculosis bacteria and not Rheumatoid arthritis.

Therefore, there are many inconsistencies and discrepancies raised in this article. I feel badly for the Thai patient who was treated "for many years" for scrofula and was presumably not given these "expensive" antibiotics. It's also worrisome that this article stated that scrofula cannot be spread by human air borne bacteria which is incorrect according to the NY times reference section.

[geriatrickid]

I believe that you have misinterpreted the information. The illness in question is believed to be immune mechanism related. Rheumatoid arthritis is an autoimmune disease. That is why the drugs used to treat RA are being used for these cases. Scrofula manifests itself by way of swollen lymph nodes, particularly in the neck and a diagnostician that is used to finding TB is going to assume the patient symptoms were TB related. BTW, Lupus is an auto immune related illness as well.

What the article highlights is the local emphasis on treating before the cause is identified. The questions asked should be why no one did the cultures and blood work.

In any case, the article is not well written and I can see why, you would interpret the information as you did.

Edited September 25, 2012 by Scott
formatting

[Nisa]

The newspaper article states that the Dr. treated a patient for scrofula "for many years" and the disease was not "completely cured." The article goes on to state that the "disease is not contagious among humans."

First of all - "for many years" without researching outside Thailand and with WHO raises competence and efficacy of treatment questions. Secondly, scrofula is in fact a form of tuberculosis which is caused by Mycobacterium scrofulaceum or Mycobacterium avium, a human air borne bacteria, according to the NY Times Health Section on this subject - http://health.nytime...a/overview.html

At issue also is the statement in the article that the antibiotics for scrofula are used in "foreign countries" to treat rheumatoid arthritis. A search of the four widely used antibiotics for scrofula reveal that they are all for scrofula type tuberculosis bacteria and not Rheumatoid arthritis.

Therefore, there are many inconsistencies and discrepancies raised in this article. I feel badly for the Thai patient who was treated "for many years" for scrofula and was presumably not given these "expensive" antibiotics. It's also worrisome that this article stated that scrofula cannot be spread by human air borne bacteria which is incorrect according to the NY times reference section.

Best we leave the doctoring to the doctors as well as assuming because something wasn't reported (without researching outside Thailand) that it didn't happen...

Today, approximately 95% of mycobacterial cervical infections in adults are caused by Mycobacterium tuberculosis, and the remainder are caused by atypical mycobacterium, or

nontuberculous

mycobacterium

(NTM).

http://emedicine.medscape.com/article/858234-overview

New AIDS-like disease found in U.S., Asia ...

It's still possible that an infection of some sort could trigger the disease, even though the disease itself

doesn't seem to spread person-to-person

, he said.

http://www

.cbc.

ca/news/health/story/2012/08/23/disease-mystery-immune.html

The new syndrome,

which does not seem to pass from person to person

, involves an immune-system antibody that blocks a molecule critical to fighting off infections and auto-immune diseases.

http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/news/fullstory_128518.html

(SOURCES: Sarah Browne, M.D., assistant clinical investigator, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Md.; Marc Siegel, M.D., associate professor of medicine, New York University Langone Medical Center, New York City; New England Journal of Medicine, online edition, Aug. 22, 2012)

Scrofula as a presentation of tuberculosis and HIV

http://www.cjem-online.ca/v9/n3/p176

[SOTIRIOS]

....the basis for another vaccine scam........try colloidal silver....

[GentlemanJim]

The newspaper article states that the Dr. treated a patient for scrofula "for many years" and the disease was not "completely cured." The article goes on to state that the "disease is not contagious among humans."

First of all - "for many years" without researching outside Thailand and with WHO raises competence and efficacy of treatment questions. Secondly, scrofula is in fact a form of tuberculosis which is caused by Mycobacterium scrofulaceum or Mycobacterium avium, a human air borne bacteria, according to the NY Times Health Section on this subject - http://health.nytime...a/overview.html

At issue also is the statement in the article that the antibiotics for scrofula are used in "foreign countries" to treat rheumatoid arthritis. A search of the four widely used antibiotics for scrofula reveal that they are all for scrofula type tuberculosis bacteria and not Rheumatoid arthritis.

Therefore, there are many inconsistencies and discrepancies raised in this article. I feel badly for the Thai patient who was treated "for many years" for scrofula and was presumably not given these "expensive" antibiotics. It's also worrisome that this article stated that scrofula cannot be spread by human air borne bacteria which is incorrect according to the NY times reference section.

Best we leave the doctoring to the doctors ........................ deleted for brevity

I have found that in Thailand that can be a huge mistake.

[alant]

A somewhat confusing article, maybe it got lost in the translation. Overall it seems the headline may have been constructed to grab attention whilst the body somewhat contradicts it. It looks rather like an under the carpet release that the Thai health service is not prepared to pay for the drugs used in the west to treat the condition???

[Chris Lawrence]

More to the point is what turn these types of disease's on and off. Treating these conditions in today's climate, is to make the suffer as comfortable as possible with the medicines they have. A cure costs money and as the numbers a few not a lot of money will be spent on research.

The article sounded clear to me?

[chanwit]

....the basis for another vaccine scam........try colloidal silver....

....the basis for another vaccine scam........try colloidal silver....

Next up, here come the network marketing (MLM) companies claiming their product will cure this illness (or help symptoms) or maybe this is even the source of the illness alert.

Edited September 25, 2012 by chanwit

[bkkjames]

....the basis for another vaccine scam........try colloidal silver....

....the basis for another vaccine scam........try colloidal silver....

Next up, here come the network marketing (MLM) companies claiming their product will cure this illness (or help symptoms) or maybe this is even the source of the illness alert.

what's the old saying? what good is a cure without the disease?

[cyborgx]

The newspaper article states that the Dr. treated a patient for scrofula "for many years" and the disease was not "completely cured." The article goes on to state that the "disease is not contagious among humans."

First of all - "for many years" without researching outside Thailand and with WHO raises competence and efficacy of treatment questions. Secondly, scrofula is in fact a form of tuberculosis which is caused by Mycobacterium scrofulaceum or Mycobacterium avium, a human air borne bacteria, according to the NY Times Health Section on this subject - http://health.nytime...a/overview.html

At issue also is the statement in the article that the antibiotics for scrofula are used in "foreign countries" to treat rheumatoid arthritis. A search of the four widely used antibiotics for scrofula reveal that they are all for scrofula type tuberculosis bacteria and not Rheumatoid arthritis.

Therefore, there are many inconsistencies and discrepancies raised in this article. I feel badly for the Thai patient who was treated "for many years" for scrofula and was presumably not given these "expensive" antibiotics. It's also worrisome that this article stated that scrofula cannot be spread by human air borne bacteria which is incorrect according to the NY times reference section.

Best we leave the doctoring to the doctors ........................ deleted for brevity

I have found that in Thailand that can be a huge mistake.

Me too. ON MANY OCCASIONS!

Last time was when they wanted to charge me Bt.200,000 to scrape out the insides of my sinuses (after seeing 3 doctors including 2 specialists), when the problem was just that I had put on some weight and was now sleeping on my back with my mouth open!

Even in the west the statistics say 40% of diagnoses are wrong!

[attento]

The newspaper article states that the Dr. treated a patient for scrofula "for many years" and the disease was not "completely cured." The article goes on to state that the "disease is not contagious among humans."

First of all - "for many years" without researching outside Thailand and with WHO raises competence and efficacy of treatment questions. Secondly, scrofula is in fact a form of tuberculosis which is caused by Mycobacterium scrofulaceum or Mycobacterium avium, a human air borne bacteria, according to the NY Times Health Section on this subject - http://health.nytime...a/overview.html

At issue also is the statement in the article that the antibiotics for scrofula are used in "foreign countries" to treat rheumatoid arthritis. A search of the four widely used antibiotics for scrofula reveal that they are all for scrofula type tuberculosis bacteria and not Rheumatoid arthritis.

Therefore, there are many inconsistencies and discrepancies raised in this article. I feel badly for the Thai patient who was treated "for many years" for scrofula and was presumably not given these "expensive" antibiotics. It's also worrisome that this article stated that scrofula cannot be spread by human air borne bacteria which is incorrect according to the NY times reference section.

Best we leave the doctoring to the doctors ........................ deleted for brevity

I have found that in Thailand that can be a huge mistake.

Me too. ON MANY OCCASIONS!

Last time was when they wanted to charge me Bt.200,000 to scrape out the insides of my sinuses (after seeing 3 doctors including 2 specialists), when the problem was just that I had put on some weight and was now sleeping on my back with my mouth open!

Even in the west the statistics say 40% of diagnoses are wrong!

The bad News - Mis-diagnosis is not rare in most countries. Medicine is not an exact science and the practice of medicine is more an art then a science.

The good News - many of the prescribed treatments are ineffective anyway. Many drugs are grossly over-sold by the manufacturers, and then over-prescribed.

[Payboy]

First reported in August.

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/index.php?/topic/579393-Mystery Aids-Like Disease In Thailand & Taiwan Baffles Doctors

[Scott]

Troll posts and replies removed.

[Amras]

I'd say the misdiagnosis is a matter of numbers and financial economics. Especially in the west where health care is covered by the government. Unfortunately this means that every single patient can't have a blood work up done when common collective symptoms suggest it is 75% x which should be treated the standard way for that disease. Only if initial treatment doesn't have any effect will testing then be done.

Is this the best way...probably not, is it the only way to ensure that the financial cost of providing medical and health services doesn't become unmanageable, probably. Imagine if every single patient was to have blood work, microbiological tests every time before a diagnosis. The costs would be unimaginable.

Then there is the problem of symptoms which many diseases can present very similar symptoms and then the rarity of certain diseases/conditions. It's purely a numbers game, the amount of time doctors have per patient to offer advice and treatment options etc etc. As unfortunate as it is, there's no real other way.

[Bagwan]

Why all the fuss? It is common knowledge that that hi-so's are immune to everything. As for the rest .............................

[Markaew]

A disease that attacks the liver? Hmmm....did they bother to ask how much alcohol was being consumed by the patient? Where I live the Thais are drunk all the time, where myself, only drunk half the time.

[rogerdee123]

A disease that attacks the liver? Hmmm....did they bother to ask how much alcohol was being consumed by the patient? Where I live the Thais are drunk all the time, where myself, only drunk half the time.

yeah ... the liver ... and also the hair falling out and rashes ... these symptoms probably infect almost all the old codgers that hang out in lower sukhumvit

Edited September 26, 2012 by rogerdee123

[noitom]

The newspaper article states that the Dr. treated a patient for scrofula "for many years" and the disease was not "completely cured." The article goes on to state that the "disease is not contagious among humans."

First of all - "for many years" without researching outside Thailand and with WHO raises competence and efficacy of treatment questions. Secondly, scrofula is in fact a form of tuberculosis which is caused by Mycobacterium scrofulaceum or Mycobacterium avium, a human air borne bacteria, according to the NY Times Health Section on this subject - http://health.nytime...a/overview.html

At issue also is the statement in the article that the antibiotics for scrofula are used in "foreign countries" to treat rheumatoid arthritis. A search of the four widely used antibiotics for scrofula reveal that they are all for scrofula type tuberculosis bacteria and not Rheumatoid arthritis.

Therefore, there are many inconsistencies and discrepancies raised in this article. I feel badly for the Thai patient who was treated "for many years" for scrofula and was presumably not given these "expensive" antibiotics. It's also worrisome that this article stated that scrofula cannot be spread by human air borne bacteria which is incorrect according to the NY times reference section.

Best we leave the doctoring to the doctors ........................ deleted for brevity

I have found that in Thailand that can be a huge mistake.

Me too. ON MANY OCCASIONS!

Last time was when they wanted to charge me Bt.200,000 to scrape out the insides of my sinuses (after seeing 3 doctors including 2 specialists), when the problem was just that I had put on some weight and was now sleeping on my back with my mouth open!

Even in the west the statistics say 40% of diagnoses are wrong!

Some 3-4 years ago my wife went to a Bangkok dentist for a simple filling that fell out. She came home and explained that she would be going back for 4 more visits. After some web searches at home to assist in the diagnosis, we determined that the Thai dentist was proposing to do a root canal and a crown. I was surprised at the root canal recommendation on a completely healthy looking and feeling tooth. Further discussion revealed that the Thai dentist was proposing all this root canal, crown, filled the cavity..etc. without ever, not even once taking an xray. My wife did not return to that Thai dentist nor has she ever had trouble with that tooth.