What is multi-drug resistant TB (MDR-TB)?
• TB bacteria can become resistant to one or more of the first-line drugs used to treat TB . Drug resistance can occur when TB patients do not adhere to their prescribed drug regimens, health professionals prescribe an incorrect treatment regimen, or an unreliable drug supply interrupts patients’ treatment. This means that the drug can no longer kill the bacteria. Drug resistance is more common in people who have spent time with someone with drug-resistant TB disease; do not take their medicine regularly; do not take all of their prescribed medicine; develop TB disease after having taken TB medicine in the past; or come from areas where drug-resistant TB is common. When the TB bacteria become resistant to more than one drug, a condition known as multi-drug resistant TB (MDR-TB) develops. People with MDR-TB disease must be treated with specific second-line drugs that often are much more expensive than conventional therapy and cause more severe side effects. In addition, some people with
