MDR-TB has a mortality rate of about 15% with treatment, which further depends on a number of factors, including:
How many drugs the organism is resistant to (the fewer the better)
How many drugs the patient is given (patients treated with five or more drugs do better)
The expertise and experience of the physician responsible
How co-operative the patient is with treatment (treatment is arduous and long, and requires persistence and determination on the part of the patient)
Whether the patient is HIV-positive or not (HIV co-infection is associated with increased mortality).The majority of patients with multidrug-resistant tuberculosis do not receive treatment, as they are found in underdeveloped countries or in poverty. Denial of treatment remains a difficult human rights issue, as the high cost of second-line medications often precludes those who cannot afford therapy.A study of cost-effective strategies for tuberculosis control supported three major policies. First, the treatment of smear-positive cases in DOTS programs must be the foundation of any tuberculosis control approach, and should be a basic practice for all control programs. Second, there is a powerful economic case for treating smear-negative and extra-pulmonary cases in DOTS programs along with treating smear-negative and extra-pulmonary cases in DOTS programs as a new WHO "STOP TB" approach and the second global plan for tuberculosis control. Last, but not least, the study shows that significant scaling-up of all interventions is needed in the next 10 years if the millennium development goal and related goals for tuberculosis control are to be achieved.
They note that prevalence of MDR-TB is 2.5 times higher in areas of poorly controlled TB. Russian-based therapy (i.e., not DOTS) has been criticized by Kimerling et al. as "inadequate" in properly controlling TB incidence and transmission. Bobrik et al. note that treatment for MDR-TB is equally inconsistent; the second-line drugs used to treat the prisoners lack specific treatment guidelines, infrastructure, training, or follow-up protocols for prisoners reentering civilian life. Policy impacts
As Ruddy et al. note in their scholarly article, Russias recent penal reforms will greatly reduce the number of inmates inside prison facilities and thus increase the number of ex-convicts integrated into civilian populations. Because the incidence of MDR-TB is strongly predicted by past imprisonment, the health of Russian society will be greatly impacted by this change. Formerly incarcerated Russians will re-enter civilian life and remain within that sphere; as they live as civilians, they will infect others with the contagions they were exposed to in prison. Researcher Vivian Stern argues that the risk of transmission from prison populations to the general public calls for an integration of prison healthcare and national health services to better control both TB and MDR-TB. While second-line drugs necessary for treating MDR-TB are arguably more expensive than a typical regimen of DOTS therapy, infectious disease specialist Paul Farmer posits that the outcome of leaving infected prisoners untreated could cause a massive outbreak of MDR-TB in civilian populations, thereby inflicting a heavy toll on society. Additionally, as MDR-TB spreads, the threat of the emergence of totally-drug-resistant TB becomes increasingly apparent.