Drug Resistant Tuberculosis (MDR-TB)
A new global threat is emerging, called multidrug-resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB), and there is growing concern over the number of worldwide cases that no longer respond to the most common treatments. The country of Moldova, located between Romania and Ukraine, has one of the highest rates of MDR-TB in the world outside of Africa. Roughly 18% of new TB cases in Moldova no longer respond to drugs commonly used to treat TB, and 65% of patients who have previously been treated for TB now have MDR-TB (World Health Organization).
Effects of Drug Resistance
This means that doctors must use older, less effective drugs to treat these patients many of which have devastating side effects such as hearing loss and blindness. There are several theories as to why this is happening, one of which has to do with the fact that Moldova has specialized health care centers, including centers specifically for patients infected with TB which may be adding to the problem.
Another major issue is that the prescribing and taking of TB medications by patients is often inadequate. This has resulted in a viscous cycle: because these forms of TB are considerably more difficult to treat and require a longer treatment period, many patients interrupt treatment which in turn leads to mutations causing more drug resistance in TB bacteria. The WHO warns that Moldova’s situation, already occurring in other countries at a lower incidence, may escalate into a serious global issue if is it not properly addressed.
Language Notes: The official language of Moldova is Moldovan which most linguists categorize as a dialect of Romanian, a language influenced by both the Russian and Ukrainian languages.
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