Asian nations urged to control TB threat
Tokyo, 21 July 2008—The World Health Organization (WHO) warned today that the failure of Asian nations to combat the spread of highly lethal, drug-resistant strains of tuberculosis (TB) was a threat to global public health security.
Only 1% of the estimated 150 000 people with multidrug-resistant TB (MDR-TB) in WHO’s Western Pacific Region, which covers East Asia and the Pacific, are getting appropriate treatment. Each untreated TB patient could infect five to 10 people a year.
MDR-TB raises the risk of a TB epidemic that would be costly and complex to control. Drugs to treat MDR-TB are about 100 times more costly than the regimen for normal TB.
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Rapid tests for drug-resistant TB to be available in developing countries
Geneva/Manila, 1 July 2008 -- People in low-resource countries who are ill with multidrug-resistant TB (MDR-TB) will get a faster diagnosis -- in two days, not the standard two to three months -- and appropriate treatment thanks to two new initiatives by the World Health Organization (WHO), the Stop TB Partnership, UNITAID and the Foundation for Innovative New Diagnostics (FIND).
MDR-TB is a form of TB that responds poorly to standard treatment because of resistance to the first-line drugs isoniazid and rifampicin. At present it is estimated that only 2% of MDR-TB cases worldwide are being diagnosed and treated appropriately, mainly because of inadequate laboratory services. The initiatives should increase that proportion at least seven-fold over the next four years, to 15% or more.
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