Washington- Cases of drug resistant tuberculosis as recorded has hit the highest rates ever, with regions of former USSR being the most vulnerable, reported the World Health Organization on Tuesday.

The report was based on data from about 81 countries. The World Health Organization projected that globally almost .5 million people in a year become infected with a type of TB that is resistant to 2 or more of the basic drugs used to treat the disease. This number counts to around 5 % of the 9 million new cases of TB annually.

Extremely drug-resistant TB, the type that is the hardest to treat, was found in forty five countries and it may also be seen in other countries because the data available from Africa was very limited, said the U.N. health agency.

In a telephone interview, Dr. Mario Raviglione, director of the WHO Stop TB Department said that he is frustrated because the world is not serious about the epidemic. “The report simply shows that we will face big trouble in various parts of the world,” he added.

Regions of the former USSR such as Russia, Ukraine, Moldova and Azerbaijan were some of the countries which were hard hit by drug-resistant TB.

The highest rate was seen in Baku, Azerbaijan, where about 22.3 % of the new TB cases were resistant. This surpassed the previous level of 14.2 % in Kazakhstan. The Drug resistant TB is widespread in the regions of china such as Heilongjiang and Inner Mongolia, where the rates were found to be 7.25%, the W.H.O. reported.

The study also found extremely high rates of the MDR-TB (multi drug resistant TB)in Moldova, Donetsk in Ukraine, Tomsk in Russia and Tashkent in Uzbekistan where the rates were 19.4%, 16%, 15% and 14.8 % respectively.

“These levels have exceeded the maximum levels”, Dr. Mario C. Raviglione said.

“We are witnessing levels of MDR TB that we never anticipated. Twenty percent is really a very high level,” he added. Dr. Raviglione’s program aims at reducing TB prevalence and deaths.

The study said that the progress had been made in Latvia and Estonia, which were found out to be the hot spots for drug-resistant TB in the 1990s. This study is the biggest WHO report on tuberculosis since 2004 and also the first to trace XDR-TB.

Related Links:

• New survey finds highest rates of drug-resistant TB to date
• Stop TB Partnership

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