Drug resistant TB rare in US

Despite being a six times deadlier than tuberculosis, deaths from drug resistant TB are rare in the US, according to latest statistics.

A report compiled by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) stated that there were 83 cases of extensively drug resistant TB (XDR-TB) between 1993 and 2007, Reuters reported.

This was compared with 40,000 cases of XDR-TB worldwide in 2006, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).

About a third of TB cases were estimated to be in south-east Asia by the WHO.

Study leader, epidemiologist at the CDC, Dr Peter Cegielski welcomed the news, but warned against complacency.

He said: "As long as there is XDR-TB anywhere in the world, there is a risk in the United States."

Globally, drug resistant forms of TB are on the rise with millions of dollars spent on looking for new drugs to treat the airborne illness.

An estimated five per cent of nine million cases of TB worldwide each year are XDR-TB, the news agency said.

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