Drug-Resistant TB Spreads Rapidly in S. Africa
Pastor Dale Morgan
Drug-Resistant TB Spreads Rapidly in S. Africa*
The Associated Press
Thursday, November 23, 2006; 12:18 PM
JOHANNESBURG, South Africa -- More than 300 cases of extreme
drug-resistant tuberculosis (XDR-TB) have been confirmed across South
Africa, the national health department said Thursday.
XDR-TB is defined by the World Health Organization as TB which is
resistant to the main first-line TB drugs and to three or more of the
six second-line drugs.
The patients "are in the hospitals, they are on treatment," the South
African Press Association quoted the health department's head of TB, Dr.
Lindiwe Mvusi, as saying.
Some patients have died, Mvusi said, but could not say how many.
The health department recorded 263 cases in KwaZulu-Natal, where the
strain was first identified earlier this year.
The disease is complicated by the presence of HIV/AIDS.