Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 2006. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
South African Press Association - September 27, 2006
Dr Sibongile Zundu said the 182 people who had died from MDR tuberculosis was the total number of deaths since January 2005 up until September 19 this year.
She said it was important to make a distinction between those who had died from the MDR strain and those who had died from the extreme drug-resistant (XDR) strain.
In May the number who had died from the MDR strain stood at 154.
Of the 60 people who had died from the XDR strain, 44 were HIV positive with CD4 counts well below 200 -- the level at which antiretroviral treatment should begin.
HIV patients with CD counts below 200 have an immune system that is already seriously compromised.
The deaths from the MDR strain could be attributed to patients presenting themselves at a late stage at health facilities.
"It takes time to determine what strain they have because cultures have to be grown at a lab first," Zundu said.
Many of those suffering from the MDR strain were tuberculosis patients who had a previous battle with the disease and had failed to take their medication during their first infection according to the instructions of medical practitioners.
During a presentation to the KwaZulu-Natal legislature last week, KwaZulu-Natal provincial minister of health Peggy Nkoyeni said that the incidence of tuberculosis was associated with that of HIV and Aids.
In 2001 reported cases of tuberculosis numbered 39 586. By 2005 the numbers had increased to 85 507. Nkonyeni told the legislature the increase in figures could also be attributed to better surveillance rather than an actual increase, especially since the introduction of a "TB register".
Tuberculosis is classified as an MDR strain when it becomes resistant to two or more medications, and XDR strain is resistant to three or more of the different classes of drugs employed when the drugs normally used are not effective.
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