Prevalence of tuberculosis and multidrug resistant tuberculosis in the Middle East Region.

Prevalence of tuberculosis and multidrug resistant tuberculosis in the Middle East Region. Expert Rev Anti Infect Ther. 2018 Sep 03;: Authors: Ahmad S, Mokaddas E, Al-Mutairi NM Abstract INTRODUCTION: Prevalence of TB and MDR-TB varies considerably among various regions of World Health Organization (WHO) and also among individual countries within each region. Many Middle Eastern countries have war/civil war-like situations, refugees from war-torn countries or dynamic expatriate population from TB endemic countries which will likely affect the END-TB strategy launched by the WHO in 2015. Areas covered: The data for each of 17 countries comprising the Middle East were analyzed for estimated incidence of TB, number of notified TB cases, mortality rate, and rate of MDR-TB in new and previously-treated TB cases as reported by WHO. Data from national surveys or surveillance studies from individual countries were also analyzed for incidence of MDR-TB in new and previously-treated TB patients and compared with the estimated data by WHO. Expert commentary: Several Middle Eastern countries have low/intermediate incidence rate and are striving for TB elimination. Reaching pre-elimination (<1 TB case per 100 000 population) stage will require testing and treatment of latent TB infection in groups at high risk of reactivation and effective treatment of drug-susceptible and drug-resistant TB cases. Large numbers of refugees, expatriate workers ...
Source: Expert Review of Anti-Infective Therapy - Category: Infectious Diseases Tags: Expert Rev Anti Infect Ther Source Type: research