TUBERCULOSIS (TB) is a more notorious global infectious disease than the acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (Aids). According to the World Health Organization’s Global Tuberculosis Report, it is the number one disease that causes death due to a single infectious agent. It is also the ninth leading cause of death around the world.

Of the 10.4 million people who got sick with tuberculosis in 2016, 56 percent of them can be found in five countries: China, India, Indonesia, Pakistan and the Philippines. Moreover, the highest annual incidence of tuberculosis infection (500 cases and above) can be found in five countries: Lesotho, North Korea, Mozambique, the Philippines and South Africa. The Philippines is one of the six countries with a high burden of both tuberculosis and multi drug resistant tuberculosis (MRT). The other five countries are Bangladesh, North Korea, Pakistan, Russia and Vietnam.

What is more alarming is the rise of MRT globally and in the Philippines. The center medication for MRT is the drug rifampicin, which is considered today as the most effective first-line drug. The good news: 47 percent of the global MRT cases are from China, India, and the Russian Federation, which means that the Philippines is not among the highest in MRT cases.

Among Filipinos with MRT and those who failed to complete treatment, 88 percent already had MRT before seeking treatment, while the remaining 12 percent developed MRT during anti-tuberculosis treatment, which is through the Dots (directly observed treatment short-course) program in the country. This is according to the report of Thelma Tupasi and colleagues from the Tropical Disease Foundation (Makati), Department of Health (Manila), Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (Atlanta), Philippine Business for Social Progress (Manila), US Agency for International Development (Washington), World Health Organization Philippines (Manila), The Lung Center of the Philippines (Manila) and the USAID Technical Assistance (Manila).

It is unknown how many came from treatments with private physicians. A third of these patients also continued to be positive in their bacterial culture, which makes them highly contagious for the communities they belong to. If these resistant strains of Mycobacterium tuberculosis are transmitted, they are expected to spread MRT.