Act now or risk a fatal TB outbreak: WHO

Countries most at risk from a fast-spreading, drug-resistant strain of tuberculosis (TB) must take immediate action to prevent potential fatal outbreaks, warned the World Health Organization (WHO) yesterday.

Margaret Chan, director-general of the WHO, said at the start of a three-day meeting in Beijing to discuss control of the disease that the 27 worst hit nations, including India, Vietnam, Pakistan and Bulgaria, must act now to defuse a medical "timebomb".

Speaking at the event, jointly organized by the WHO, China's Ministry of Health and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, she warned the world was now under threat from a multiple drug-resistant TB (MDR-TB), as well as an extensively drug-resistant TB (XDR-TB).