At least 60 cases of multidrug-resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB) have been detected this year in the Southern African kingdom of Swaziland, the Health Ministry said on Tuesday.
Swaziland’s TB programmes manager, Themba Dlamini, said that none of those with the disease had died but added that they had all been placed in isolated wards in hospital.
”The country has had 8 500 reported cases of TB and 60 were found to be MDR-TB cases. All are on treatment and we are working around the clock to create awareness about the disease,” Dlamini said.
MDR-TB strains thwart the first line of antibiotics that are conventionally used to treat TB.
About 450 000 new MDR-TB cases are estimated to occur every year, according to recent estimates by the World Health Organisation (WHO), which believes that about nine million TB infections occur yearly. — Sapa-AFP