How does TB become drug resistant?
Tuberculosis can become resistant if a patient is not treated long enough, doesn’t take prescribed medications properly, or doesn’t receive the right drugs. Why is MDR TB more dangerous? In addition to the increased difficulty in treating the disease, the patient remains infectious longer increasing the risk to the public and to healthcare workers. MDR TB also appears in association with HIV infection and AIDS, further compromising the health and the immune system of these patients. HIV itself does not increase the chance of drug resistance. HIV does accelerate the progression of TB infection into active TB disease. MDR TB can cause death within a few weeks in persons with HIV/AIDS. Is MDR TB a problem in Canada? It is estimated that one third of the world’s population is infected with the TB bacillus. There were an estimated 8.4 million new cases in 1999. In Canada, the annual incidence rate of TB has remained stable for the last decade with approximately 2,000 new cases reported each
