Disturbing rise in super-resistant TB

HEALTH experts have reported a disturbing increase around the world in tuberculosis infections resistant to antibiotics.

"It's basically a death sentence. If people are failing first and second-line drugs and we don't have in the pipeline a new drug for immediate use, that's a crisis," said Dr Marcos Espinale, executive secretary of the World Health Organisation's Stop TB Partnership.

As campaigners raised awareness on World TB Day yesterday, it emerged that the number of cases of tuberculosis in England, Wales and Northern Ireland has topped 7,000 a year.