Scientists warn world faces TB epidemic as disease ‘is becoming drug resistant’
Boffins say drug-resistance threatens to 'derail decades of progress' in tackling infectious disease
THE world is facing a tuberculosis epidemic on an “unprecedented scale”, scientists have warned.
Drug-resistant strains are threatening to “derail decades of progress”.
TB killed 1.8million people in 2015 with 60 per cent of fatalities coming in just six countries.
One-in-five cases are now resistant to at least one major drug and five percent classed as MDR – resistant to the two most powerful isoniazid and rifampicin – or XDR which are also resistant to fluoroquinolones and second line injectable drugs.
Professor Keertan Dheda, of Cape Town University, said: “Resistance to anti-tuberculosis drugs is a global problem that threatens to derail efforts to eradicate the disease.
"Even when the drugs work, TB is difficult to cure and requires months of treatment with a cocktail of drugs.