Scientists at the World Health Organization (WHO) say the resistant strain has been found in "all regions of the world."
Dr. Karin Weyer, director of the TB Unit at the South African Research Council tells the International Herald Tribune, "With extremely drug resistant (XDR) TB, we have very few options left - all we can even try are very old, very ineffective drugs that we stopped using in the '50s and '60s. For many people, there is no option."
Research reported in the journal, Morbidity and Mortality Weekly, maintains, "XDR TB has emerged worldwide as a threat to public health and TB control, raising concerns of a future epidemic of virtually untreatable disease."
According to the Tribune, in one recent TB outbreak among 544 people in the South African province of Kwazulu-Natal, most of whom were HIV positive, 221 had resistant TB, and 53 of those cases involved XDR strains. Of those 53 cases, 52 patients have died, including many who were otherwise getting the most advanced therapy for AIDS.
