New information on XDR-TB from the CDC:

CDC’s Role in Preventing Extensively Drug-Resistant Tuberculosis (XDR TB)
Extensively Drug-Resistant Tuberculosis (XDR TB)

XDR-TB information in Arabic

The term XDR-TB (extensively drug resistant TB) was first reported in March 2006 in a study by the World Health Organization (WHO) and the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). XDR-TB was described as a highly drug-resistant form of TB and a serious threat to public health and TB control. It also raised concerns of epidemics of TB with severely restricted treatment options for patients, which could jeopardize gains made in TB control. XDR-TB poses specific threats and challenges in the fight against HIV/AIDS, also compromising the considerable progress already made in many countries towards universal access to HIV treatment and prevention.

To respond effectively to the emerging situation the WHO Stop TB and HIV/AIDS departments invited more than 110 people to a WHO Global Task Force on XDR-TB in Geneva from 9 to 10 October 2006. This meeting concluded with a series of technical and strategic planning outcomes, including a recommendation to form a Task Force on Advocacy, Communication and Social Mobilization for XDR-TB.

Information for Health Care Workers

• Guidelines on Infection control for Health Care Workers
• TB/HIV Information

Information for Patients

• Information for Patients
• I had MDR and I am cured now
• Treatment literacy materials (coming soon)

Caption: Samantha and her child Melanie. Both of them have MDR-TB; Samantha having infected her child. Samantha has been at the hospital for 7 months now. Melanie, her child, arrived 2 months ago. They have many months of treatment and hospital stay in front of them. Brooklyn Chest Hospital, Cape Town.

Information for Journalists

• Information for journalists
• World TB Day materials
• XDR-TB Fact Sheet
• The Union conference, Paris, November 2006 - 33 journalists briefed on XDR-TB

Information for Communities

• Information materials for communities (coming soon)

ACSM for XDR-TB Task Force

• TORs for the ACSM for XDR-TB Task Force

Ministers accused of failing to act as TB cases grow
The Guardian, 4 June 2007

XDR-TB in the headlines
By John Donnelly, Globe Staff | June 4, 2007

The unexpected turns in the case of Andrew Speaker, the Atlanta lawyer with extensively drug-resistant tuberculosis, have riveted the country.

Speaker made two trans-Atlantic flights against the counsel of public health officials. A border guard let him into the United States apparently because he appeared healthy. His father-in-law works in the field of tuberculosis research. And Monday, his doctors in Denver reported that two tests of his sputum show no presence of the TB bacteria. Read more

XDR-TB in South Africa: Back to TB Sanatoria Perhaps?

S.Africa urged to isolate "killer" TB patients

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - South Africa should forcibly isolate patients infected with a highly drug-resistant strain of tuberculosis to stop the disease from spreading on the AIDS-hit continent, researchers said on Monday.

South Africa's outbreak of extreme drug resistant tuberculosis (XDR-TB), which has killed at least 74 people in the last several months, may force authorities to override patients' personal rights in favor of the greater public's health, the study in the journal PLoS Medicine said.

"XDR-TB represents a major threat to public health. If the only way to manage it is to forcibly confine then it needs to be done," said Jerome Singh, study co-author and lawyer at Durban's Center for the AIDS Program of Research in South Africa.

"Ultimately in such crises, the interests of public health must prevail over the rights of the individual."