File photo of Health Minister Harsh Vardhan.
In the wake of multi-drug resistant (MDR)-TB cases increasing in India, Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan today launched India's first National Anti-Tuberculosis Drug Resistance Survey, 2014-2015.
The survey will be conducted on 5,214 patients across the country and will provide information on the prevalence of anti-tuberculosis drug resistance among the new and already undergoing treatment patients.
"It often happens that patients who have TB disease stop taking the drugs soon after they start feeling better. They can become sick again as if the drugs are not taken correctly, the TB bacteria may still remain alive and the person may become resistant to those drugs and will have to then given second-line drugs," said Mr Vardhan.
These additional drugs, called second-line drugs, must be taken for a very long time and is more expensive to treat.
Multi-drug-resistant TB (MDR-TB) is resistant to two or more of the first-line drugs used to treat the disease.
If a person with MDR-TB spreads the disease to someone else and that person comes down with active disease, it will be multi-drug-resistant from the beginning.
The number of multi-drug resistant (MDR)-TB cases in the country had increased five-fold between 2011 and 2013. Studies show one-third of the MDR-TB cases are resistant to fluoroquinolones, which are critical for MDR-TB treatment.
MDR-TB if quickly identified can be cured successfully. Unfortunately, tests to determine whether a particular strain is resistant usually take several weeks to complete.
The survey programme will include tracking the effectiveness of TB prevention and control activities, design standardized regimens for the treatment of drug-resistant TB, assess epidemiological trends and identify and respond to outbreaks of drug-resistant TB.
The survey will contribute to a better understanding of national and international situation of TB drug resistance.