Strains of tuberculosis with resistance to multiple drugs could
spread widelyListen / “Have we conquered or at least tamed the
TB emergency?” asked the Director-General of the World Health
Organization (WHO). Dr. Margaret Chan says the answer is yes and
no. "On many levels”, she says, "TB is a glowing success story"
adding that "the DOTS approach to stop TB had been adopted in
nearly every country in the world and had had a dramatic
impact." But, as Beng Poblete-Enriquez reports, the rise of TB
strains that are resistant to multiple first line drugs also
known as MDR TB or extensively resistant to second line drugs
also known as XDR TB, which is a form of TB resistant to at
least four of the core anti-TB drugs, is of great concern to
WHO.