Malta, along with Andorra and Iceland, is among three out of 79 countries that has no drug-resistant tuberculosis (TB) present in the country, according to a Global Project on Anti-tuberculosis Drug Resistance Surveillance.
The data analysis from the Global Project on Anti-tuberculosis Drug Resistance Surveillance also showed that among the new cases of TB that arose in 76 countries surveyed, the median prevalence of drug-resistant TB was 10.2%.
According to Reuters, the information gathered by the World Health Organization (WHO) and other groups between 2000 and 2002 indicates the presence of strains of TB that are resistant to one or more standard drugs in almost all of the countries surveyed, with particularly high levels in areas of the former Soviet Union and China.
The study, conducted by the WHO's Dr. Mario Raviglione and colleagues, also show that around 424,000 cases of "multidrug-resistant" TB emerged in 2004.
"Over the past 10 years a solid foundation has been laid to measure and treat drug-resistant forms of TB. Political commitment and improved capacity of laboratory networks are imperative for the control of TB and the future of surveillance," the authors of the report concluded.
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