Russia an epicenter for MDR-TB

An excerpt from the Scientific American article "A Report from the Russian Front in the Global Fight Against Drug-Resistant Tuberculosis":

The Siberian provinces of the central Russian plateau—poor, even by Russian standards, with high rates of alcoholism, drug abuse and a large prison population—are among the epicenters of a worldwide epidemic of drug-resistant tuberculosis. Whereas the 490,000 reported cases of MDR-TB account for just a small fraction of the 9.2 million new cases and 1.7 million deaths from TB reported to the World Health Organization in 2006, MDR-TB represents a significant global public health hazard. In parts of Siberia, it accounts for more than 15 percent of all cases.

Click here to access the SA article.