April 28, 2011
An editorial in The Lancet Infectious Diseases: The worldwide epidemic of multidrug-resistant tuberculosis. Excerpt:
WHO estimates that a third of the world's population is infected with Mycobacterium tuberculosis. In 2009, there were almost 9 million new cases of tuberculosis and the disease killed almost 1 million people around the world. Since the discovery of the BCG vaccine, and the development of new antibiotics in the 1950s, the incidence of tuberculosis has fallen substantially.
From 1995 to 2009, about 49 million people received treatment for the disease, 41 million of whom were cured, saving up to 6 million. However, multidrug-resistant (MDR) tuberculosis—ie, resistance to two of the most potent drugs, rifampicin and isoniazid—threatens to turn the tide against the medical advances of the past century.
Although the problem of tuberculosis and drug resistance is commonly thought to be one that primarily affects developing countries in Africa, a report from the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) and WHO, released for World Tuberculosis Day on March 24 and summarised by Talha Burki in this issue of The Lancet Infectious Diseases, shows that MDR tuberculosis is a growing problem in Europe.
The number of patients with MDR disease in Europe is alarmingly high, with an overall absolute number of 27 765 patients in 2009.
In 2008, WHO estimated that there were 440 000 cases of MDR tuberculosis around the world; but because culture and PCR methods for diagnosis are unreliable for resistant disease, WHO estimates that only 11% of actual cases were detected in 2009.
In the past 10 years, an estimated 5 million people developed MDR tuberculosis worldwide, of whom only 1% had access to treatment and almost 1·5 million people died. The global prevalence of MDR tuberculosis could be approaching 1 million.
http://crofsblogs.typepad.com/h5n1/2011/04/lancet-the-worldwide-epidemic-of-multidrug-resistant-tuberculosis.html
An editorial in The Lancet Infectious Diseases: The worldwide epidemic of multidrug-resistant tuberculosis. Excerpt:
WHO estimates that a third of the world's population is infected with Mycobacterium tuberculosis. In 2009, there were almost 9 million new cases of tuberculosis and the disease killed almost 1 million people around the world. Since the discovery of the BCG vaccine, and the development of new antibiotics in the 1950s, the incidence of tuberculosis has fallen substantially.
From 1995 to 2009, about 49 million people received treatment for the disease, 41 million of whom were cured, saving up to 6 million. However, multidrug-resistant (MDR) tuberculosis—ie, resistance to two of the most potent drugs, rifampicin and isoniazid—threatens to turn the tide against the medical advances of the past century.
Although the problem of tuberculosis and drug resistance is commonly thought to be one that primarily affects developing countries in Africa, a report from the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) and WHO, released for World Tuberculosis Day on March 24 and summarised by Talha Burki in this issue of The Lancet Infectious Diseases, shows that MDR tuberculosis is a growing problem in Europe.
The number of patients with MDR disease in Europe is alarmingly high, with an overall absolute number of 27 765 patients in 2009.
In 2008, WHO estimated that there were 440 000 cases of MDR tuberculosis around the world; but because culture and PCR methods for diagnosis are unreliable for resistant disease, WHO estimates that only 11% of actual cases were detected in 2009.
In the past 10 years, an estimated 5 million people developed MDR tuberculosis worldwide, of whom only 1% had access to treatment and almost 1·5 million people died. The global prevalence of MDR tuberculosis could be approaching 1 million.
http://crofsblogs.typepad.com/h5n1/2011/04/lancet-the-worldwide-epidemic-of-multidrug-resistant-tuberculosis.html
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