* New tools to fight TB being developed
* Diagnoses of drug resistant TB lagging
By Julie Steenhuysen
CHICAGO, Oct 17 (Reuters) – New tuberculosis infections
dropped 2.2 percent worldwide last year, but with nearly 9
million new infections, the World Health Organization said TB
remains a massive problem that could worsen if countries
shortchange funding to fight it.
In its annual assessment released Wednesday, WHO also said
only one in five people with drug-resistant strains of TB is
being diagnosed each year, leaving hundreds of thousands of
people who are potentially infecting others with this
particularly deadly form of the disease.
Overall, the report found that 8.7 million people fell ill
with tuberculosis in 2011 and 1.4 million died, including nearly
430,000 people who were also infected with HIV, the virus that
causes AIDS.
Dr. Mario Raviglione, director of the WHO’s Stop TB program,
said the report, based on data from 204 countries and
territories, paints a mixed picture of progress in the fight
against TB, noting that “51 million people have been cured and
20 million lives have been saved” since 1995.
Raviglione also cheered progress in developing rapid
diagnostic tools that allow patients to be quickly tested for
drug-resistant strains of TB, and he looked forward to the
expected addition of at least two new drugs to fight
drug-resistant forms of TB in the next year.
But the report cited slow progress in identifying cases of
drug-resistant tuberculosis, which health officials called a
growing health emergency.
Continued…
