EUROPA/RUSSIA - Every year in Russia 26,000 people die of TB

Rome (Fides Service) - Every year in Russia 26,000 people die of TB and 110,000 new cases are registered. Russia is 12th on the list of the world’s 22 countries with high infection levels. The most affected are India, China, Indonesia, Nigeria, Pakistan and Bangladesh.
According to official statistics in 2004 in Russia the ratio of TB cases registered was 83/100,000, a high rate compared to the average 20/100,000 in the other countries of Europe.
The Koch bacillus which is the cause of tuberculosis is most lethal in Russia’s prisons due to lack of medicine and poor diet and TB is also the main cause of death for people with AIDS.
Official figures say that at least 90,000 prisoners with TB are assisted in 36 hospitals and 56 special clinics run by the Ministry of Justice.
The situation is aggravated by the fact that most TB patients in Russia are affected by the strain of the disease which resists preventive medicine. This strain was identified for the first time in 1991 in New York and later in Russia. The principal characteristic is the fact that patients do not react to traditional drugs and require another type of antibiotic and other prolonged expensive treatment.
The most affected regions are Saransk, in the Republic of Mordova in the centre of the country, Irkutsk in Siberia and Jábarovsk in the east. (AP) (31/3/2006 Agenzia Fides; Righe:23; Parole:266)