Guest guest Posted December 11, 2008 Report Share Posted December 11, 2008 Drug resistant TB rife in China Thu Dec 11, 1:34 am ET HONG KONG (Reuters) – Levels of drug-resistant tuberculosis (TB) in China are nearly twice the global average and almost 10 percent of cases are resistant to the most effective first-line drugs, a study has shown. China has an estimated 4.5 million cases of people with TB, the second-largest number of TB cases in the world after India and is struggling with high levels of drug-resistant TB, which is costly and difficult to treat. In a survey involving 10 provinces between 1996 and 2004, researchers found that multi-drug resistant (MDR) TB made up 9.3 percent of all cases, 5.4 percent of new cases and 25.6 percent of previously treated cases. All three figures were markedly higher than global MDR-TB figures which stand at 4.8 percent for all cases, 3.1 percent for new cases and 19.3 percent for previously treated cases, the researchers wrote in the journal BMC Infectious Diseases. Regular TB requires a six to 12 months course of treatment, but many patients tend to give up because of side effects or a careless attitude. But this comes with a serious risk, as they may develop drug resistance and require stronger drugs the next time round, which may be too expensive or simply unavailable. MDR-TB, which is defined as resistance to two of the most potent anti-TB drugs, takes two years to treat and is costly. Toxic and less effective second-line drugs are used and infected patients are less likely to survive. With a good TB control program, the proportion of previously treated patients among all TB patients should be low. But the study found that the proportion of previously treated patients in China was around 20 percent, compared to a global average of 11 percent. " Many possible explanations for the development of drug resistance in China exist, and different explanations may prevail in different areas of this vast country, " the researchers wrote. " These include the inadequate use of anti-TB drugs in public hospitals, lack of supervision of treatment, poor drug-management and absence of infection control measures in hospitals. " " Also, availability of anti-TB drugs without a prescription in some areas of China in the past may have contributed to the development of drug resistance, " they said. http://news./s/nm/20081211/hl_nm/us_tuberculosis_china_1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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