WHO warns more TB cases slipping through detection net

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WHO warns more TB cases slipping through detection net

GENEVA (AFP) - The World Health Organisation warned Monday that more

new tuberculosis cases are slipping through the detection net, as

countries fail to keep up with rapid progress made in earlier years.

" After some years of good trends for tuberculosis control, 2006

documents a slowing of progress -- the rate at which new cases were

detected increased only slightly compared to recent years, " WHO

director-general Margaret Chan told journalists.

" This slowdown in progress comes at a time when numbers are still way

too high, " she added.

The WHO estimates that only 61 percent of all TB cases worldwide are

registered.

In 2006, some 9.2 million new cases of TB were detected against 9.1

million in 2005, said the WHO in its annual report on TB control.

The WHO estimates that, including non-detected cases, there were 14.4

million cases of the disease worldwide in 2006.

Between 2001 and 2005, detection rates were increasing by six percent

a year, but in 2006, this rate was halved to three percent.

" This is not a good sign because our target is to detect all cases

that exist. There is 39 percent that we are unable to find, but which

we think is there, " said Raviglione, who is director of the

WHO's Stop TB department.

The slowdown was attributed to the fact that some national programmes

that were making steady progress during the last five years have not

been able to continue at the same pace in 2006, said the WHO.

In addition, in many African countries, there has not been any

increase in the detection of TB cases through national programmes.

Others are slipping out of the detection net as they are treated by

private care providers, and by NGOs or community groups, added the WHO.

" We've entered a new era. To make progress, firstly public programmes

must be further strengthened. Secondly we need to fully tap the

potential of other service providers, " said Chan.

The health organisation also drew attention to the significant number

of HIV-infected people with TB. In 2006, some 700,000 new cases of

HIV-infected people with TB were detected.

" The report clearly demonstrates how closely linked TB and HIV are, "

said Piot, who is executive director of UNAIDS.

In 2006, 200,000 TB deaths were recorded among people who were

infected with HIV, while an estimated 1.5 million people without HIV

also succumbed to tuberculosis.

" It's the single most important cause of death for people living with

HIV, " said Piot.

The report singled out Rwanda, Malawi and Kenya as posting the highest

HIV testing rates among African states.

" The report tells us that we are far from providing universal access

to high-quality prevention, diagnostic, treatment and care services

for HIV and TB, " said Piot.

Just last month, the WHO warned that drug-resistant strains of

tuberculosis have been recorded at their highest rates ever around the

globe amid shortages in funding needed to combat the disease.

Nearly a half million new cases of multi-drug resistant tuberculosis

occur each year worldwide, or around five percent of the nine million

new cases in total, the WHO said then.

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