Experts are warning against the dangers of multidrug-resistant tuberculosis

LAUSANNE - Although TB has been curable for more than 60 years, there are still 9 million new cases and 1.6 million deaths from this infectious lung disease each year. The disease is again in the forefront of attention; the main reason, aside from frequent TB/HIV co-infection, is the rise of resistant TB strains.

World TB Day commemorates the day in 1882, when Robert Koch, a German professor working at the Imperial Health Office in Berlin, identified the Mycobacterium tuberculosis as the cause of the disease known in the 19th century as the “White Plague” because of its devastating effects. The annual event helps bring fresh attention to an age-old disease, which needs funding for new diagnostic tools, vaccines and drugs as well as to develop and maintain effective public health systems to provide prevention, treatment and control.

Although the incidence of TB in western Europe is declining, the world as a whole faces a major threat that will also affect industrialised nations. The main reason, aside from TB/HIV co-infection, is the rise of resistant TB strains, mainly in Sub-Saharan Africa.

In early 2008, the World Health Organization (WHO) reported an unexpectedly large increase in the number of cases of drug-resistant tuberculosis. At present, an estimated 5% of the more than 9 million people who develop TB around the world every year are infected with an MDR-TB strain, i.e. a strain that is resistant to (at least) the two most powerful anti-TB drugs currently available.

Multidrug-resistant TB on the rise

“It is easier to gain attention and resources for new diseases, such as swine flu, than for ongoing problems like tuberculosis,” said Dr Nils E Billo, Executive Director of the International Union Against Tuberculosis and Lung Disease (The Union).
“But it’s critical not to underestimate TB. With the increase in multidrug-resistant TB to more than 500,000 cases last year, the potential for TB to become a public health emergency is very real.”

TB PAN NET

The ERS School is involved in a European Union (EU)-funded project called TB PAN-NET: a European network for the study and clinical management of TB drug resistance.

The project aims to establish an integrated network to address the challenge of multidrug-resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB) that the EU is facing. To reach this objective, a European consortium of partners with extensive experience in the conduct of basic and clinical research relating to MDR-TB, TB control and epidemiology was established in January 2009, which includes 26 centres in 17 different EU and non-EU member states and one centre in the USA.

• Read the full article  about TB PAN NET
• Learn more on TB PAN-NET project: www.tbpannet.eu
• Register to the ERS School course on Tuberculosis

For more information, please visit:

• Year of the Lung: 2010yearofthelung.org
• World TB Day: stoptb.org