NEW DELHI: India leads the pack of five countries including China, South Africa, Indonesia and Pakistan with the largest number of tuberculosis patients. A global report compiled by the World Health Organization has also said that India accounts for 25 percent of the global tuberculosis cases. The report provides a comprehensive and up-to-date assessment of the TB epidemic and progress in implementing and financing TB prevention, care and control at global, regional and country levels using data reported by 198 countries that account for over 99% of the world's TB cases. The report state that out of the 8.8 million reported tuberculosis cases, India accounted for 2.5 million out of which half a million were infected by HIV. India's tuberculosis statistic is significant even as the country earlier this year has reported a deadlier form of the disease ‘TBR TB' which according to health professionals here which is drug resistant. The Amita Athale who heads the chest department of one of Mumbai's top King Edward Memorial hospital said that the strain was a new trend and needed focussed attention of the medical fraternity. “We are getting a regular number of patients coming in with this strain of tuberculosis. They are being treated in isolation,” she told Bikyamasr.com. The new strain TDR-TB follows mutation of the bacilli after Multi-Drug-Resistant TB (MDR-TB ) and Extremely Drug-Resistant TB (XDR-TB ) which are diagnosed before. Nearly 400,000 people die in India due to tuberculosis. BM ShortURL: http://goo.gl/P6hXu Tags: Deaths, Health, Illness, India, TB Section: Health, Latest News, South Asia
