WHO Responding to Drug-Resistant TB Threat
Officials at the World Health Organization issued a report on Tuesday claiming that their survey of over 90,000 TB patients in 81 countries revealed that the drug-resistant form of tuberculosis is spreading faster than expected. The WHO said that the rate of infection is currently over 20 percent in some countries.
In Azerbaijan’s capital, Baku, almost a quarter of all new TB cases are multi-drug resistant.
"Ten years ago, it would have been unthinkable to see rates like this," said Dr. Mario Raviglione, director of WHO’s "Stop TB" department. "This demonstrates what happens when you keep making mistakes in TB treatment."
MDR-TB is resistant to at least the two most powerful anti-TB drugs, isoniazid and rifampicin.
The report, based on information collected between 2002 and 2006, is the largest survey of drug-resistant TB to date, but experts still claim they lack information on the crucial area of Africa. There are concerns that AIDS and drug-resistant TB may collide in Africa, where only six countries provided information in the survey.
"If multi-drug resistant TB has penetrated Africa and coincides with AIDS, there’s bound to be a disaster," Raviglione said.
There are about 500,000 new cases of drug-resistant TB every year, about 5 percent of the 9 million new TB cases. In the United States, 1.2 percent of TB cases were multi-drug resistant. Of those, 1.9 percent were extensively drug-resistant, according to Associated Press.
China and India are home to half the world’s cases.
"They are clearly nurturing a multi-drug resistant TB epidemic and failing to report XDR-TB at all," Mark Harrington, executive director of Treatment Action Group, said.
In order to respond to the mounting threat, the WHO hopes to expand TB surveillance for drug resistant tuberculosis to be scaled up. The expansion would cost an estimated $5b.
"TB drug resistance needs a frontal assault,” Raviglione said.
Countries with strong treatment programs, like the U.S. and other Western nations, should theoretically have very little drug-resistant TB.
"Multi-drug resistant TB is a threat to every person on the planet. It’s not like HIV, where you are only infected through specific actions. TB is a threat to every person who takes a train or a plane."
The WHO said the new program would allow for diagnostic tests that would be able to give results within one day. These efforts are being attempted in South Africa and Lesotho. If proven successful, they could be used in Africa within a few months.
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