Drug-resistant TB may ‘spiral out of control,' U.N. says

The world is on the cusp of an explosion of drug-resistant tuberculosis cases that could deluge hospitals and leave physicians fighting a nearly untreatable malady with little help from modern drugs, global experts said Wednesday.

"The situation is already alarming, and poised to grow much worse very quickly," said Dr. Margaret Chan, the director-general of the World Health Organization.

Here is the link to the rest of the story: TB

TB can usually be treated with a course of four standard, or first-line, anti-TB drugs.


XDR-TB is the abbreviation for extensively drug-resistant tuberculosis (TB).

One in three people in the world is infected with dormant TB germs (i.e. TB bacteria). Only when the bacteria become active do people become ill with TB. Bacteria become active as a result of anything that can reduce the person’s immunity, such as HIV, advancing age, or some medical conditions. TB can usually be treated with a course of four standard, or first-line, anti-TB drugs. If these drugs are misused or mismanaged, multidrug-resistant TB (MDR-TB) can develop. MDR-TB takes longer to treat with second-line drugs, which are more expensive and have more side-effects. XDR-TB can develop when these second-line drugs are also misused or mismanaged and therefore also become ineffective. Because XDR-TB is resistant to first- and second-line drugs, treatment options are seriously limited. It is therefore vital that TB control is managed properly.

Source: WHO

Here is a link to a PDF file that shows the following:
Countries that had reported at least oneXDR-TB case by end March 2009

Link: PDF

more to come...

Hooray! More gloom and doom! I say bring it. I'm ready for a lil' TB. It beats some of the other scenarios you see floating around. I'll take TB over Ebola any day of the week, and twice on Sunday.