from Hacker News

USAID funding freeze disrupts global tuberculosis control efforts

by Red_Tarsius on 2/13/25, 5:35 PM with 119 comments

• by Red_Tarsius on 2/13/25, 6:13 PM

  For context: Tuberculosis treatment requires strict, months-long medication adherence. Even a brief disruption means patients may not complete their courses, allowing drug-resistant TB to emerge. These strains are far harder and more expensive to treat, spreading across borders and undoing decades of progress.

• by redleader55 on 2/13/25, 6:12 PM

  Why is the US contribution so critical to anything outside the US when there so many other rich countries that could pick up the slack? Does this mean that besides US no one else cares? I can't believe that's true.

• by andy_ppp on 2/13/25, 5:49 PM

  I don’t understand what bubble Elon Musk is living in where the ruthless slashing of USAID spending won’t have huge negative repercussions for the US.

  I think the rest of the world will withdraw from trusting the US after this and other actions. A lot of trust in the world leadership positions the US takes are being torched by these vandals right now and while I hope for an amazing US comeback in 4 years it looks a lot more like China will step in as a stable partner for a lot of countries after an almost complete betrayal of western values.

• by lasc4r on 2/13/25, 6:18 PM

  I think the goal is to destroy US soft power on the way to undermining the rule of law and destroying what passes for a rules-based international order. Once that's done they can really get busy stamping out democracy.

• by kylehotchkiss on 2/13/25, 6:58 PM

  We're on track for TB to become a problem again, even in the west. Global eradication efforts were put on massive pause during covid. Some governments are downplaying the issue to appear on track to meet arbitrary eradication deadlines. It's been cropping up around North America. Just as a reminder, there isn't an effective vaccine (BCG is not what we would consider a modern vaccine). Current treatment regimen is 6 months daily antibiotics. Throw in any complications (paradoxical reactions, resistance) and get ready for that to become much longer.

  I had watched a loved one suffer from this disease. The pills were huge. Waiting too long to start treatment causes a lot of complications. These aren't well understood, given the massive TB funding deficits. Even when the disease is cleared from your lungs, it leaves plenty of things behind.

  If you or somebody you know is coughing persistently for weeks, losing weight, has evening fevers, just get the quantiferon gold test. Be persistent with your doctor, just mention past TB exposure. Your insurance should cover it. Don't wait around months trying to look at every other avenue. It'll look very similar to aspergillosis on x-rays.

• by OutOfHere on 2/14/25, 3:07 AM

  The TB that does exist out there in the world is increasingly multi-drug resistant, which means most antibiotics won't work on it. Once it starts spreading abroad and later in the US, a lot like Covid did, it's game over.

• by inverted_flag on 2/13/25, 6:24 PM

  That USAID was Trump and Musk's first target after taking office is peculiar. They made no mention of it during the campaign and most people were unaware of it's existence until a couple weeks ago. The only group with any strong negative opinion of USAID is foreign adversaries.