U.S. role critical to addressing increases in drug resistant TB

The world is facing a stealthy and alarming increase in drug resistant tuberculosis, the World Health Organization (WHO) indicated in its yearly global TB report, released last week. While the 2012 incidence of TB continued its slow, steady decline from prior years, there were an estimated 450,000 new cases of multiple drug-resistant TB (MDR-TB) in 2012, according to the Global Tuberculosis Report 2013. Worse, fewer than 25 percent of people suspected of having MDR-TB were identified last year and 16,000 people diagnosed with the disease were not put on treatment, the international health organization said. Treatment waiting lists are continuing to grow, it added.