Occurrence of drug resistant TB at all-time high: WHO

New York : Drug resistanttuberculosis is spreading faster than previously feared and its rate ofoccurrence is at an all-time high, a new report by the World HealthOrganisation has found. The study, "Anti-tuberculosis drugresistance in the world", is based on data collected between 2002 and2006 on 90,000 TB patients in 81 countries. It found that extensivelydrug-resistant tuberculosis (XDR-TB), a virtually untreatable form ofthe respiratory disease, has been recorded in 45 countries. The agency estimates that nearly half amillion new cases of multi-drug-resistant TB, known as MDR-TB, aredetected annually worldwide, accounting for 5 per cent of the 9 millionnew cases every year. "TB drug assistance needs a frontal assault," says Mario Raviglione, Director of WHO's Stop TB Department. The highest rate of MDR-TB was found inAzerbaijan's capital Baku, where nearly one quarter of all new TB caseswere reported to be multi-drug-resistant. This type of TB is alsowidespread in Moldova, Ukraine, Russia, Uzbekistan and China. The report also spotted ties betweenHIV infection and MDR-TB, with surveys in Latvia and Donetsk, Ukrainerevealing that the rate of MDR-TB is twice as high among tuberculosispatients living with HIV than those without the disease. The agency reported notable successes,such as Estonia and Latvia, which were deemed MDR-TB 'hotspots' morethan a dozen years ago but whose rates are now stabilising.However, given that only six countriesin Africa -- the continent with the highest incidence of TB globally --were able to submit data for the report, WHO pointed out that themagnitude of the respiratory disease in some parts of the world remainsunknown. "It is likely there are outbreaks ofdrug resistance going unnoticed and undetected," says WHO tuberculosisexpert Abigail Wright, the report's principal author. WHO estimates that USD 4.8 billion isneeded for overall TB control in low- and middle-income countries in2008, with USD 1 billion for MDR-TB and XDR-TB. But there is a totalfinance gap of USD 2.5 billion, including a USD 500 million gap forMDR-TB and XDR-TB. "The threat created by TB drugresistance demands that we fill these gaps, as laid out in the GlobalPlan to Stop TB, a roadmap for halving TB prevalence and deathscompared with 1990 levels by 2015," said Dr Marcos Espinal, ExecutiveSecretary of the Stop TB Partnership. "The Plan also calls for anotherimperative - sufficient resources for research to find new diagnostics,new drugs effective against resistant strains and an effective TBvaccine."

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