AIDS, drug resistance complicate TB fight

Improper treatment and lack of a steady supply of medications have contributed to the rise of resistant tuberculosis strains.

By Susan J. Landers, AMNews staff. April 19, 2004.

Washington -- Tuberculosis is still among the most curable infections on the planet, say those engaged in the fight against the disease. Yet it will kill more than 2 million people this year, and it infects one-third of the world's population.

Although TB is most prevalent in Asia, Africa and parts of Eastern Europe, no nation is immune in these times of high mobility.

After more than a decade of falling rates, TB's decline is slowing in the United States, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. New surveillance data show that 14,871 people with active TB disease live in the United States, the largest numbers in California, Florida and Texas. More than half of those infected are foreign-born.

Among this population, rates were nearly nine times higher than the rate of those who are U.S.-born. CDC data also indicate that disparities in TB rates persist among racial and ethnic minority populations, thus highlighting the need to target these groups for treatment.

Left untreated, each person with active TB disease will infect on average between 10 and 15 people every year, according to the World Health Organization. The ease with which the airborne infection can spread means widespread vigilance is required, stressed health officials.

"To control TB anywhere, you have to control it everywhere," said Lee B. Reichman, MD, MPH, founding executive director of the New Jersey Medical School National Tuberculosis Center, speaking to congressional staffers during a March 30 briefing.