multi-drug resistant tuberculosis (mdr-tb) may threaten India's health security, according to a study of the World Health Organisation (who). The problem already exists in Russia, Latvia, Argentina and the Ivory Coast. It is feared that this will make India unable to meet the who deadline of 2000 ad for the universal implementation of dots (Directly Observed Treatment Short-course ). dots is lauded as a sure-fire method to cure tb with nearly 90 per cent cure rate.
The Directorate General of Health Services says one Indian dies of the disease every minute. There are 14 million estimated tb cases in the country. Reportedly, around 2.2 million people contract tb every year. However, only half of them seek medical treatment. The report shows that about five lakh people die from the disease. The who is worried that mdr-tb hot zones could overwhelm existing tb control measures and spread the disease across the world.
What makes the scenario tragic is the fact that mdr-tb is man-made, caused by inconsistent or partial treatment of tb. The mdr-tb has been found to be resistant to treatment with commonly used tb drugs.
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