Alarming scale of multidrug-resistant Tuberculosis requires rapid response to prevent emerging global crisis

Of the 9.4 million new tuberculosis (TB) cases diagnosed each year, approximately 5% are multidrug resistant (MDR). The global scope of multidrug-resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB) is much more vast than previously estimated according to alarming new data, requiring a concerted international effort to combat this deadlier form of the disease, the medical humanitarian organisation Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) said. The global MDR-TB crisis coincides with a huge gap in access to diagnosis and treatment. Existing diagnostic tools and medicines are outdated and hugely expensive, and inadequate funding threatens the further spread of the disease. Worldwide, less than 5% of TB patients have access to proper diagnosis of drug resistance, and only 10% of MDR-TB patients are estimated to have access to treatment – far less in low-resource settings where prevalence is highest. “Wherever we look for drug resistant TB we are finding it in alarming numbers, suggesting current statistics may only be scratching...