Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 2008. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
South African Press Association - January 22, 2008
They are the first cases to be reported in sub-Saharan Africa outside of South Africa.
The patients have been quarantined at the Princess Marina Hospital in Gaborone.
"Extremely drug-resistant TB is very difficult to treat and may develop rapidly in people with HIV," Aidsmap says.
Botswana has the one of the highest incidences of HIV-infection in the world.
Over 100 people were recently diagnosed with the less drug-resistant TB in Botswana and are now being treated as outpatients, Dr Julius Mboya; head of disease control at Princess Marina Hospital is quoted as saying.
They were not quarantined.
"We know where all the patients are and we are monitoring their progress. We feel they are not that risky to the public," Mboya said.
The Botswana approach to MDR TB treatment contrasts with the approach in South Africa, where patients have been required to spend lengthy periods in specialist facilities to receive supervised treatment.
The organisation also reports that the political violence in Kenya, in which an estimated 250 000 people were displaced, has raised fears that HIV-positive people on anti-retroviral therapy and in camps for displaced persons might not be able to get their drugs.
Interruption of ARV therapy risks patients developing resistance to the drugs.
Health workers have commended the speed with which emergency mechanisms have kicked in to locate patients nationally and keep them on their medication, but have also warned that only time will reveal the impact of interrupted treatment on thousands of patients across the country.
More than 160 000 Kenyans are on ARVs. - Sapa
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