Ultra-lethal TB sends fear through Africa

African countries last week agreed a plan to tackle a new and ultra-lethal strain of tuberculosis called Extensive Drug Resistant TB (XDR-TB).

It is especially harmful to people infected with HIV, killing 52 out of 53 HIV-positive people who caught it after attending a clinic in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa, earlier this year. All were infected with the same strain, suggesting that one infected person spread it to all the rest. Most died within 25 days – long before the three months it takes to get lab test results back.

“The lethal strain of TB killed 52 out of 53 HIV-positive people within 25 days”

At an emergency meeting in Johannesburg last week, the World Health Organization, the South African Medical Research Council and African health officials agreed a plan to screen for XDR-TB in 11 other African countries to see just how widespread it is. Until now, South Africa was the only African country capable of testing for it.

“We strongly fear that XDR-TB is likely to be in other places in Africa,” says Paul Nunn, head of the WHO’s TB drug resistance team.