Detection and treatment of multidrug resistant TB in India remains low

Only 6% of the estimated 66 000 cases of multidrug resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB) in India in 2011 were detected, and only 5% of these patients were enrolled in second line treatment programmes, a study has found.

Although enrolment to treatment programmes of people in India with MDR-TB improved by over 50% a year between 2009 and 2011, the number of people being treated is still low in a country with one of the highest burdens of MDR-TB, says the report in Lancet Infectious Diseases.1

Mycobacterium tuberculosis is considered to be multidrug resistant when the strain is no longer sensitive to …