India: Flawed treatment fuels drug-resistant TB

NEW DELHI ? Health activists in India say that inadequate tuberculosis treatments and lack of regulation of drugs that treat it are responsible for the spiraling number of cases of drug resistance to the lethal lung disease.

Health workers said on Friday that India adds an estimated 99,000 cases of drug-resistant TB every year but only a tiny fraction received second line treatment through a government-funded program. Friday is World Tuberculosis Day.

The original form of the disease can be easily cured by taking antibiotics for six to nine months. But if that treatment is interrupted or the dose is cut down, the bacteria battle back by mutating into a tougher strain that can no longer be killed by standard drugs making it harder and more expensive treatment.

Source: http://feeds.cbsnews.com/~r/CBSNewsTheEarlyShowBoxOffice/~3/96SRsHnxaqY/

nj plane crash plane crash new jersey beef o bradys bowl the hobbit the hobbit an unexpected journey dark knight rises trailer dark knight rises trailer