Drug-resistant tuberculosis up across India and China

The World Health Organization (WHO) says it does not have enough information at hand to say either way if cases of drug-resistant tuberculosis are decreasing.

The drug-resistant strain of the virus is very difficult to treat because it does not respond to typical antibiotics used to treat it, thus the name.

What the WHO does know, is that the majority of drug-resistant cases of the virus are in residents living in China and India.

Both countries have reported in influx of more than 100,000 new cases of the virus, and it is also picking up steam in parts of eastern Europe.

In its report, based on information gathered from 35 countries, the WHO write: “The country data reported to WHO make it impossible at this time to conclude whether the (drug-resistant TB) epidemic worldwide is growing or shrinking.”

They estimate that overall, four percent of tuberculosis cases worldwide are of the drug-resistant strain.

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