Tuberculosis may become impossible to cure
Pastor Dale Morgan
Tuberculosis may become impossible to cure*
25.03.2007
Tuberculosis, the world's deadliest curable infectious disease, may
become 200 times more costly to treat and almost impossible to cure
unless the spread of a drug-resistant strain is halted, the World Health
Organization said Thursday.
Drug-resistant TB is now widespread in the Western Pacific region, with
high levels documented in China, Mongolia and the Philippines, the WHO's
Western Pacific office in Manila said in a statement.
In some countries, the management of multidrug-resistant TB, or MDR-TB,
is not yet available or has failed to meet acceptable standards.
The WHO warned that failure to address the threat will result in more
deaths and chronic cases.
There is also a risk of spreading XDR-TB, an even more drug-resistant
strain.
XDR-TB develops when the second-line drugs used to treat drug-resistant
TB are misused or mismanaged and become ineffective, the AP says.
Tuberculosis infects 3.5 million people and kills nearly 300,000 yearly
in the Western Pacific despite recent progress by countries to provide
better health care, the U.N. agency said. It estimates 1.7 million
people die worldwide from TB every year.
"Just one case is enough to set alarm bells ringing," said Shigeru Omi,
WHO Regional Director for the Western Pacific.
He urged countries to put in place a strong TB drug-resistance
surveillance system and adequate laboratory capacity to diagnose
multidrug-resistant TB. He also called for free treatment and infection
control policies to prevent spread of drug-resistant TB in health
facilities.
He said up to US$2 billion (EUR 1.5 billion) is needed to implement
high-quality TB control in the region.
WHO said the statement was meant to update the situation on TB ahead of
Saturday's World Stop TB Day.
Drug-resistant TB is just as easily transmissible as ordinary TB, which
is spread by coughing and sneezing.
People can develop or acquire drug-resistant TB due to incorrect or
incomplete drug regimens or poor quality drugs, as well as by being
infected with drug-resistant TB bacteria.