Tuberculosis (TB) remains a scourge in many countries, let alone with contagious characteristics.

This condition is exacerbated by a national survey conducted in China that 1 of the 10 cases of tuberculosis in China cannot be treated with standard drugs.

"For the first time, we have a national survey in China related to this issue. This shows that the problem is quite serious," said Dr. Daniel Chin, an expert on tuberculosis at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation in Beijing and one of the researchers on the study. "One of the 10 cases with any standards globally of course the result will be very high."

Conventional lung disease caused by germs that spread from people with active TB coughs, sneezes or speaks. It turned out that in recent years the disease develops into a more powerful two forms: drug-resistant TB is treatable, so people do not work with the top two TB drugs and TB drug resistance that can scarcely be extensively treated. There was even resistance TB cases unofficially dubbed the 'actually resistant to the drugs' and are found in India.

TB usually recovers within 6-9 months with the consumption of a mixture of four types of antibiotics, but if treatment is interrupted or the dose reduced, the bacteria mutate into a stronger strain that can no longer be killed by standard drugs. TB cases are resistant to the drug itself may take up to two years and thousands of dollars to cure.

Surveys conducted by the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, or CDC China in 2007 also showed that 8 percent of patients with drug-resistant TB in China is actually a case of extensive drug resistance. Researchers get that figure from the testing of 4,000 TB patients through a local TB clinic for more than 9 months.

In 2007, an estimated 110 000 cases of drug resistance to tuberculosis and 8200 cases of extensive drug resistance making China the country with the largest annual cases of drug resistance in the world, according to the study.

"This is a very serious situation because we have no new drugs to treat patients," said Dr. Wang Yu, director of the China CDC and other researchers of this study. "This problem is also encountered in the whole world ... and from time to time, the problem will continue to rise."

The survey, published in the New England Journal of Medicine also showed that patients treated at specialized TB hospital 13 times more likely to develop drug resistance than patients treated elsewhere. The patient was probably infected in hospitals or given the wrong medication.

The overuse and misuse of antibiotics is very common in China because it is the way in which hospitals are short of funds to increase their income through drug sales.

"Hospitals are obviously the main cause of this, even what we call a tuberculosis hospital that should be devoted to the treatment of tuberculosis that are resistant to the drug may actually contribute to TB drug resistance," said Chin, who is also deputy director of programs at the Gates Foundation , China.

Levels of drug resistance TB cases in China are lower than some countries in Europe, but given the large population the number of cases were also considered high, as well as in India, says Dr. Fabio Scano of WHO which is not involved in this study.
Source : Anti Cough