Alarming rise in TB in Europe and Asia -- WHO
POSTED September 14, 2011 - 15:19 | POSTED BY Anter Prakash Singh
Last edited by Simmy Mishra on September 14, 2011 - 16:45
Recent estimates of the drug resistant TB cases, a survey conducted by the WHO, put the number at 81,000 per year in Europe with several countries still failing to diagnosis all cases.
While Eastern Europe has the highest level of infection, London reported the highest rate of tuberculosis for any capital city in Western Europe.
London alone has around 3500 T.B. cases reported each year while in 2009 there were only 58 cases of drug-resistant T.B. in all of U.K.
Health Protection Agency plans to tackle the TB
The plan being considered by the agency will cost around $ 5 billion and is aimed at saving nearly 120,000 lives and around $ 12 billion in diagnosis and treatment expenses by the year 2015.
Dr. Ibrahim Abubakar, T.B. expert, Health Protection Agency said, “Although the overall numbers are small, the trend has been for an increase in the past decade. We cannot be complacent. The cost of managing each case can stretch to several hundred thousand pounds.
"So it's significant - and while that person is infectious, other people can get TB. The larger numbers in Eastern Europe represent a failure to take action," he said.
Dr. Ogtay Gozalov, from the Europe office of the WHO said, "It's not just the vulnerable populations like migrants and prisoners - all of us could be exposed.
"If member states don't take action now, there could be a dramatic situation in the future."
Dr. Gozalov said the previous measures to contain the spread of T.B. have proved to be in adequate and said, “Nobody in Europe is 100 percent protected from drug resistant tuberculosis.”
Active steps needed to control TB
WHO has praised the “Find and Treat” service of UK which uses mobile X-ray vans to screen drug addicts and homeless people for T.B.
Tuberculosis is an airborne infection and proves fatal in nearly 7 percent cases but half the patients with drug resistant form of T.B. die because of the disease. Resistance to drugs also builds in T.B. patients when they fail to complete their course of medication.
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