Brian Allwood

Sep 10, 2023 | erj.ersjournals.com | Anthony Byrne |Allwood BW |Brian Allwood |Ingrid Schoeman

To the Editor:We read with interest the systematic review by Ivanova et al. [1], recently published in the European Respiratory Review, highlighting significant long-term lung function impairment experienced by people that survive tuberculosis (TB).

Mar 24, 2023 | businesslive.co.za | Brian Allwood

A dismayed patient once told me: “No one said that TB [tuberculosis] would never leave me.” Over the course of my 13-year career as a lung specialist, I’ve had to be the one to tell dozens of shocked patients exactly this: finishing a course of TB treatment doesn’t necessarily mean they’re rid of the disease or the damage it has caused for good. The problem is not that patients don’t respond to TB treatment — rather, they may complete their course of medicine and even feel better.

Mar 23, 2023 | bhekisisa.org | Brian Allwood

Just like with COVID, there’s a long version of TB, called post-TB lung disease. This condition can emerge even after people with TB have finished their courses of treatment. Post-TB lung disease causes damage to someone’s lungs and makes it hard to breathe. It affects up to 30% of TB survivors. Yet long COVID has gotten much more attention than the long shadow of TB, even though the TB germ was identified 140 years ago.

Mar 23, 2023 | dailymaverick.co.za | Brian Allwood

BHEKISISA OP-ED Just as with Covid, there’s a long version of TB, called post-TB lung disease. This condition can emerge even after people with TB have finished their courses of treatment.