Fragmento

Tuberculosis remains a major cause of morbidity and mortality in many countries and a significant public health problem worldwide. The emergence of drug resistant strains and particularly multidrug-resistant strains of Mycobacterium tuberculosis has become a significant public health problem in a number of countries and an obstacle for an effective control of tuberculosis. Vietnam is a high-burden country for tuberculosis. In Vietnam, almost 30,000 people die every year fron TB (one death every 18 minutes). Vietnam, with its estimated 175,000 new cases per year, ranks 12th among the 22 countries that bear 80% of the global TB burden. If TB is detected early and treated properly by using a combination treatment for six to nine months, the patients quickly become non-infectious and are eventually cured. Multi-drug resistant TB (MDR-TB) and extensively drug-resistant TB (XDR-TB), HIV-associated TB, and weak health systems are major challenges in Vietnam. There are an estimated 7,000 new MDR-TB cases and 6,400 new TB/HIV cases every year. Both of these forms of complicated TB carry a high risk of early mortality. Although tuberculosis is still a public health problem in Vietnam, there is little information about the genetic characteristics of the isolates. A better knowledge of the molecular characteristics of M. tuberculosis strains will contribute to our understanding of the transmission dynamics of the disease within the country.

Palabras clave: MDR M. tuberculosis genome sequencing Vietnam.

2012-03-14   |   424 visitas   |   Evalua este artículo 0 valoraciones

Vol. 6 Núm.1. Enero 2012 Pags. 95-96 J Infect Developing Countries 2012; 6(1)