A study published has forecast an increase in drug-resistant tuberculosis cases in the four high-burden countries, including India, and suggested that person-to-person transmission will become the engine that drives drug-resistant tuberculosis in these countries. By 2040, 12.4 percent, or an eighth, of TB cases in India will be multi-drug-resistant, up from 7.9 percent in 2000, says the study, by an international team of scientists. In the other three high-burden countries,multi-drug resistance will rise to 32.5 percent of all cases in Russia, 8.9 percent in the Philippines and 5.7 percent in South Africa, respectively up from 24.8, 6 and 2.5 percent in 2000.
Nearly 40 percent of all drug-resistant TB cases occur in these four countries, accounting for more than 2,30,000 cases in 2015. Globally, an estimated 10.4 million new cases of tuberculosis and 1.8 million deaths related to…
