Six thousand years since tuberculosis first appeared and 137 years after Dr Robert Koch identified the bacteria responsible, world leaders are now facing a new challenge that could lead to a major health crisis if urgent action isn’t taken.
The problem is that, despite being an ancient disease, tuberculosis (TB) is increasingly defiant to treatment. Multidrug-resistant TB affects half a million people each year and now accounts for one in three deaths caused by antimicrobial resistance, a phenomenon whereby germs like bacteria and fungi develop the ability to defeat the medicines designed to kill them. In reality, given that only a quarter of drug-resistant TB cases are diagnosed, this figure is likely much higher. This growing crisis threatens to undo what limited progress there has been in quashing TB, especially in middle-income countries.
A UK Government-led review into antimicrobial resistance, which included TB, warned that unless there is serious action to address drug resistance, there will be 10 million deaths a year by 2050 and cost the global economy up to 100 trillion dollars by 2050.
The results of decades of inaction on TB are that doctors are stuck with an antiquated treatment regimen that is both challenging to administer and monitor. The mainstream treatment course is still a lengthy six months. Patients often start to feel better long before treatment is complete and can neglect to take their full course. This drives drug resistance, as it gives the bacteria a chance to mutate and develop immunity to medications. Over the past 40 years, there have only been two new treatments for drug-resistant TB.
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