| ■ Drug-Resistant TB Cases at Record High | 2008.03.04 |
| Cases of multi-drug resistant (MDR) tuberculosis around the world have reached a new high, according to a World Health Organization survey of more than 90,000 TB patients in 81 countries. Patients with MDR-TB don't respond to the standard six months of treatment and must take more expensive and toxic drugs for up to two years, BBC News reported. The survey also found that virtually untreatable MDR-TB is present in 45 countries. The findings surprised the WHO, which called for a major boost in efforts to fight drug-resistant TB. "TB drug resistance needs a frontal assault," said Dr. Mario Raviglione, director of the WHO Stop TB Department, BBC News reported. "If countries and the international community fail to address it aggressively now, we will lose this battle." Along with specifically targeting drug-resistant TB, "programs worldwide must immediately improve their performance in diagnosing all TB cases rapidly and treating them until cured, which is the best way to prevent the development of drug resistance," Raviglione said. |