Response to drug resistant tuberculosis is insufficient and too slow

More than two million cases of multidrug resistant tuberculosis will emerge between 2011 and 2015, with an additional 25 000 cases of extensively drug resistant tuberculosis every year, if the epidemic spreads unchecked, the World Health Organization and partner agencies have estimated.

International agencies called a briefing on 23 March in Geneva to urge world leaders to accelerate action to deal with the pressing issue of drug resistant tuberculosis ahead of world TB day on 24 March.

Multidrug resistant tuberculosis is resistant to at least isoniazid and rifampicin, the two most powerful first line drugs. Extensively drug resistant tuberculosis is caused by strains of multidrug resistant bacilli that fail to respond to certain standard second line drugs. Leaving either form of the disease untreated increases the risk of spread of drug resistant …