T.B. CASES ON THE INCREASE!

Africa to announce TB emergency.
By Ania Lichtarowicz BBC Health Correspondent.

Aids reduces the body's resistance to TB. Health Ministers from across Africa are meeting in Mozambique to discuss the growing numbers of tuberculosis (TB) cases across the region. It is expected that the World Health Organization will announce a regional tuberculosis health emergency.
The Aids epidemic is increasing the spread of TB, which affects people in their most productive years and kills some 1,500 Africans every day. TB rates are rising in both Africa and parts of eastern Europe.
Africa is particularly hit because of co-infections with HIV and a lack of health infrastructure to monitor and treat the disease. There have been no new tests or treatments for TB developed in decades. The ones that are available are difficult to administer.
Antibiotics need to be taken regularly over six months - and if an individual is carrying a multi-drug resistant strain, therapy is even harder.

The WHO hopes that by making TB a regional health emergency, it will put the disease back on the agenda.