Multidrug-Resistant TB a Serious Global Threat: WHO

The World Health Organization's latest report on multidrug-resistant tuberculosis (MDR TB) documents the highest proportion of such cases ever, at about 5 percent. Roughly 440,000 people worldwide had MDR TB in 2008 and a third of them died, out of the 9.4 million new TB infections annually, WHO said.

"We confirm in that report that MDR TB is really a serious threat to global health. We estimated approximately half a million cases every year. And only a small proportion of them, 7 percent, get a diagnosis and treatment," co-author Matteo Zignol said Thursday.

Nearly half the MDR TB cases are estimated to have occurred in China and India, WHO said. In northwestern Russia, one-quarter of all TB cases were found to be drug resistant, a proportion never seen before, the report found.

Fifty-eight countries have reported the deadliest form of the disease -- extensively drug-resistant TB (XDR TB). "XDR TB is virtually untreatable. In the best hands, the cure rate is above 60 percent. In the vast majority of cases, there is nothing to offer," co-author Ernesto Jaramillo told journalists.

Drug resistance is fueled by stopping treatment before a course of antibiotics has been completed and by poor-quality medicines, the report said.

The authors said there is an urgent need to improve diagnostic capabilities. In Africa, just two laboratories are certified to diagnose XDR TB, the report noted. "Still in many, many countries, there is not yet capacity for diagnosing and treating [MDR TB]," said Zignol. "So these people continue to spread the infection before they die. That's why the response to MDR TB has to be prioritized -- because it's not enough to do good basic control."

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