A death sentence. That is how the deadliest form of tuberculosis (TB) is often described. But breakthrough data from South Africa on the blockbuster anti-TB drug bedaquiline could change the fate of people with extensively drug-resistant TB (XDR-TB).
The country is leading the way in the fight against drug-resistant TB (DR-TB), changing the prognosis for DR-TB patients from bleak to beatable – not only for South Africans, but for people across the globe.
In 2012 fewer than one in five South African XDR-TB patients were cured. Three years later this figure more than doubled, according to new data revealed to Health-e News by the head of DR-TB at the National Department of Health Dr Norbert Ndjeka. …..more