Still worried about SARS? The notorious killer cold isn't the only quick-mutating pathogen that's hazardous to your health. As immunologist Elinor Levy and science writer Mark Fischetti warn in The New Killer Diseases: How the Alarming Evolution of Mutant Germs Threatens Us All, an onslaught of new microbes is poised to overrun medicine's defenses. Here's a primer on the latest buffed-out bugs.
Multi-drug-resistant TB
Tuberculosis is extremely contagious, spreading easily via coughing and sneezing. Previously banished by antibiotics, it now afflicts 2 billion worldwide. A growing number of patients - 60 million so far - have drug-resistant, highly deadly strains of TB.
Drug-resistant Staph
Unsanitary conditions (dirty hands, unsterilized instruments) in US hospitals lead to 2 million staph infections annually. Its superbug cousin, made strong by the overuse of antibiotics, now kills 20,000 patients a year. The cost of fighting drug-resistant strains: $29 billion.
Chronic Wasting Disease
Similar to mad cow disease, CWD is carried by deer and elk in 15 states and Canada. Malformed proteins, known as prions, collect in the brain and cause damage in animals -éand the humans who consume them. The illness can lie dormant for more than a decade; health authorities worry that anyone who has eaten venison or moose may already be infected.
Herpes 4, 5, and 8
Nine in 10 people have herpes of some kind. The viruses are spread through bodily fluids and cause everything from chicken pox to cold sores. But more virulent strains are on the rise: Herpes 4 can lead to Burkitt's lymphoma and encephalitis. Herpes 5 may cause jaundice and brain damage. Herpes 8 often lies undetected, and can lead to Kaposi's sarcoma.
Avian Influenza
The common flu - believed to have started in birds - kills 100,000 people worldwide every year. Newer strains dupe human immune systems and foil conventional vaccines. When a virulent bug hit poultry - and 83 farm workers and their families - in Belgium and the Netherlands this spring, authorities destroyed 24 million birds. The big fear: a repeat of the 1918 Spanish flu pandemic that killed 25 million people.
Hepatitis D, E, and G
Billions of people have had - or have - hep A, B, or C. Those already afflicted with the sexually transmitted B can also contract hep D, which causes the liver disease to worsen. Another strain, food- and water-borne hep E, resists all known drugs; fatal in pregnant women, it's easily destroyed by healthy immune systems. The G variety complicates potentially deadly hep C and could be even more aggressive than HIV.
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