Abstract

A global problem The largest survey of the global distribution of multidrug-resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB) to date, which was based on data collected from |[sim]|90,000 patients with TB in 81 countries between 2002 and 2006, was published at the end of February by the WHO and International Union Against TB and Lung Disease. Based on the collated data, the WHO estimate that there are almost 9 million new cases of TB annually, 5% of which (500,000 cases) are MDR.