We are losing the fight against TB, warns WHO

A third of the world's population is carrying tuberculosis, and the disease could become incurable if governments fail to act, the World Health Organisation (WHO) has warned. Extreme drug-resistant strains of TB have now been found in 70 countries, and doctors in India reported four patients this year who did not respond to any drugs at all. Doctors in Iran and Italy have also found patients who are apparently resistant to all drugs.

In the UK, TB cases reached a 30-year high in 2009, with 8,917 people contracting the disease. Although the number of cases fell slightly to 8,483 in 2010, the Health Protection Agency said control measures in Britain should be strengthened. More than 70 per cent of those contracting TB in Britain were not born in the UK; over half came from South Asia and a quarter from Sub-Saharan Africa.

http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/health-and-families/health-news/we-are-losing-the-fight-against-tb-warns-who-7742360.html