In some areas of the world, one in four people with tuberculosis (TB) becomes ill with a form of the disease that can no longer be treated with standard drugs, a World Health Organization (WHO) report says.
In the new WHO’s Multidrug and Extensively Drug-Resistant Tuberculosis: 2010 Global Report on Surveillance and Response, it is estimated that 440 000 people had MDR-TB worldwide in 2008 and that a third of them died.
ISÆR I ASIEN
In sheer numbers, Asia bears the brunt of the epidemic.
Almost 50% of MDR-TB cases worldwide are estimated to occur in China and India.
In Africa, estimates show 69 000 cases emerged, the vast majority of which went undiagnosed.
KNIBER MED AT FASTSLÅ DIAGNOSEN
Worldwide, of those patients receiving treatment, 60% were reported as cured.
However, only an estimated 7% of all MDR-TB patients are diagnosed.
This points to the urgent need for improvements in laboratory facilities, access to rapid diagnosis and treatment with more effective drugs and regimens shorter than the current two years.
