RED CROSS, HEALTH AGENCIES TOUGHEN FIGHT AGAINST TB IN EUROPE

The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies is establishing a new alliance with the World Health Organization, the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control, Médecins du Monde and 20 other leading European agencies and organizations to forge a more effective response to the tuberculosis (TB) epidemic in Europe.

The Stop TB Partnership for Europe is being launched amid growing alarm about high levels of multidrug-resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB2) in the Baltic States, Eastern Europe and Central Asia, and the more recent emergence of extreme drug-resistant tuberculosis (XDR-TB3) that is virtually untreatable. Senior officials warn that the continued spread of such virulent strains poses a serious threat to TB treatment and control in the region, and challenge the European Union to assume a larger role in tackling the problem, reports the Red Cross.

"The drug resistance that we are seeing now is without doubt the most alarming TB situation on the continent since World War II, and our message to EU leaders is: Wake up, do not delay, do not let this problem get further out of hand," Markku Niskala, secretary general of the International Federation, said.

About 450,000 people become sick with tuberculosis and nearly 70,000 people die from the disease in the European region each year. The defining trait of an epidemic is drug resistance. Of the 20 countries in the world with the highest rates of MDR-TB, 14 are in the European region — a result of poor control practices and high treatment default rates among patients. In some countries, the misuse of second-line drugs — the last line of defense against the disease — is generating high rates of XDR-TB. The problem is compounded by the steeply rising prevalence of HIV, especially in Russia and Ukraine, which makes people far more susceptible to developing active TB.