The number of drug resistant cases of TB continues to rise with 431 reports in 2011, up from 342 in 2010 – an increase of 26%, according to the latest figures from the Health Protection Agency (HPA).
Professor Ibrahim Abubakar, head of TB surveillance at the HPA, said: “Although we are disappointed that there has been an increase in new TB diagnoses in the past year, we are pleased that TB cases overall have been stabilising since 2005 with around 8,500-9,000 new diagnoses each year. However, the increase in drug resistant cases remains a concern and a challenge to our efforts to control TB in the UK.”
Patients usually acquire drug resistant disease either as a result of spread of a drug resistant strain from another person or as a result of inappropriate or incomplete treatment. Treatment outcome data was available for 97% of cases (8,171 patients) in 2010 and revealed that 84% of patients completed their treatment, up from 78% in 2001.
