Epidemiology of resistant tuberculosis in Europe

About one-third of the world's population has been infected with Mycobacter ium tuberculosis (MTB). Active disease develops in eight to ten million peo ple per year, and tuberculosis is responsible for three million deaths ever y gear, This makes it the leading cause of death due to infections in the w orld. In 1996, 315,892 cases of tuberculosis were reported in 50 countries of the WHO European region. The notification rate was less than 20 per 100, 000 in 21 countries, all of which are situated in the western part of Europ e except the Czech Republic and Israel. The rate was 20 cases per 100,000 o r more in 29 countries located in the eastern part of Europe except for Por tugal and Spain. In addition to the rise of tuberculosis observed worldwide , the emergence of drug-resistant tuberculosis (TB) poses a major threat to TB control efforts, The prevalence of resistance is increasing dramaticall y, predominantly in eastern Europe. The aim of this article is to describe the situation of resistant TB in Europe, and to point out reasons for the i ncrease of drug-resistant MTB strains.