TOTALLY DRUG-RESISTANT FORM OF TB EMERGING IN SECOND COUNTRY
Liz Klimas
TheBlaze.com
Three years after the first reports in the world of a totally drug-resistant (TDR) form of tuberculosis (TB) in Iran, at least 12 cases of TDR-TB have been confirmed in India over the last few months.
According to the Times of India, cases began emerging in October 2011, making it the second country find this deadliest strain of TB among patients. The U.S. Center for Disease Control categorizes resistance levels of TB as multi-drug resistant or extremely drug resistant. TDR is not even classified yet on the CDC’s website and there has been no reported cures for such a strain of this bacterium yet.
What’s worrying, according to the Times of India, is that 10 of the 12 cases were of city dwellers:
“The TB bacilli have obviously mutated. The emergence of TDR-TB has grave implications for public health,” said Hinduja Hospital’s Dr. Zarir Udwadia, whose observations have been published in the latest issue of the US-based Clinical Infectious Diseases (CID) peer review journal.
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