Drug-resistant TB patients 'on the run' in South Africa

Twenty-three patients with a highly-infectious, drug-resistant strain of TB are still on the run from a South African hospital.

A total of 49 patients escaped from the Jose Pearson hospital, near Port Elizabeth, in the past few days, though 26 have since returned to the hospital of their own accord, the Associated Press reported.

However, South African authorities have now threatened to use door-to-door searches to force those who are still on the run to return to the hospital.

"If they do not return immediately, department officials will be accompanied by members of the South African Police Service in a door-to-door search," said Eastern Cape health department spokesman, Siyanda Manana.

"I think that those who returned are aware that they are putting themselves and their families at risk," he added.

South Africa has officially recorded 400 cases of drug-resistant TB, though the Associated Press explained that the true figure is thought to be much higher due to people dying before they can be diagnosed.

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