ASSESSMENTS

While the World Watches Ebola, Tuberculosis Stays Under the Radar

Sep 8, 2014 | 09:23 GMT

While the World Watches Ebola, Tuberculosis Stays Under the Radar
Tubercular patients receive treatment in a Ukrainian village in Donetsk in 2010.

(ALEXANDER KHUDOTEPLY/AFP/Getty Images)

Summary

Many news agencies are focused on the Ebola virus outbreak and the corresponding humanitarian crisis in West Africa, but there are several other diseases endemic throughout the world that are more likely to have a long-term economic impact. Tuberculosis is one such disease, especially as drug-resistant strains become more prevalent.

The largest number of drug-resistant TB cases are found in China, India and Russia, while the greatest percentage of drug-resistant cases is found in Eastern Europe, Central Asia and Russia. Because the cost of treating drug-resistant strains is much higher than in regular cases, effective treatment and control in some of the former Soviet states, which are already facing other economic and political hurdles, will be particularly difficult.

Multidrug-resistant TB is poorly controlled, and the former Soviet Union is one of the regions most severely hit....

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