In its first major tuberculosis report since 2004, the World Health Organization said Tuesday it has documented the highest levels of multidrug-resistant TB ever seen. In the study of data from 81 countries, WHO said almost a half-million people a year - or 5 percent of the world's 9 million new TB cases annually - become infected with a form of the disease that is resistant to two or more primary drugs.
"What the report shows is simply that we are in big trouble in many parts of the world," said Dr. Mario Raviglione of WHO's Stop TB effort.
The report tracked multidrug-resistant TB (MDR TB), which resists two or more primary drugs, as well as extensively drug-resistant TB (XDR TB), which resists nearly all TB drugs. In 2006, WHO documented 489,139 MDR TB cases, of which Raviglione estimated 40,000 were XDR-TB.
Years of socioeconomic decay, poor living conditions, and the dismantling of public health systems are blamed for the fact that parts of the former Soviet Union were among countries hardest hit by drug-resistant TB. According to the report:
*Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan, recorded the highest proportion of MDR-TB cases: 22 percent of all new TB cases.
*MDR-TB accounted for 19 percent of new cases in Moldova and was also common in parts of Ukraine, Russia, and Uzbekistan.
*With the exceptions of Peru, Rwanda, and Guatemala, the smallest proportions of MDR-TB were found in North and South America, Central Europe, and Africa. However, in Africa, where TB is most prevalent, only six countries provided data on drug resistance, prompting WHO TB expert Abigail Wright to note that MDR-TB might be "going unnoticed and undetected" there.
WHO said $4.8 billion is needed for TB control efforts in low- and middle-income countries this year, but the resources actually committed fall $2.5 billion shy of that goal.
02/26/08
Drug-Resistant TB Seen at Record Levels Globally
Source: Reuters:: Will Dunham; Courtesy of the CDC National Center for HIV, STD, and TB Prevention