China Faces MDR-TB,New Weapon of an Old Killer

A report by the World Health Organization to observe the World TB Day on Wednesday says that although humans discovered the bacteria that cause tuberculosis more than 100 years ago, the disease is still fatal, especially in developing countries.

In China, the migrant rural population is among the most vulnerable. Yingying has more.

In the early 20th century, virtually no TB patients survived the disease. Today, according to the Chinese Health Ministry, nearly 90 percent of them do.

However, deaths from TB are far from over. The World Health Organization says one in four patients with TB worldwide can no longer be treated with standard drug regimens.

The WHO's latest report on TB estimates that more than 400-thousand people had multi-drug resistant TB worldwide in 2008, and a third of them died.

Chen Mingting is a medical expert at the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention.

"Multi-drug resistant -TB has a nickname – infectious cancer, which is basically incurable."

Chen Mingting says MDR-TB is highly infectious and takes a long time to treat. The more complex and expensive treatments may force many rural patients to leave hospitals early.

Unfortunately, according to health ministry official Xiao Donglou, migrants from rural China are the most vulnerable because once they get sick, most can't get systematic treatment, and also fear disease discrimination.

"In China, more than 80 percent of TB patients come from rural areas. They are very likely to bring the bacteria to cities."

Medical expert Chen Mingting says poor treatment is the main reason behind the spread of MDR-TB.

"Interrupted treatment can be seriously dangerous. Some patients do not take the medicine following the doctor's advice and then get drug resistance."

Health ministry official Xiao Donglou says local health authorities are emphasizing primary care and epidemic supervision to address the problem.

"Health authorities will track the patients who do not finish their treatment but move to another place in order to prevent any risk of treatment interruption."

The Chinese Health Ministry estimates that there are now 5 million TB patients in the country. Of the 1.5 million new cases every year, some 130-thousand die.

Yingying, CRI news.