Totally Drug-Resistant Tuberculosis Surfaces in India

The Times News Network is reporting that a new strain of Totally Drug-Resistant Tuberculosis (TDR-TB) has infected at least 12 patients at Hinduja Hospital in Mahim, India.

This mutant TB strain is the latest in a nightmare pattern of drug resistance that emerged 15 years ago. The Indian news agency said that doctors simply cannot save these latest victims of TB, and are resorting the methods of treatment that would not seem out of place in pre-industrialized society:

According to the World Health Organization, tuberculosis killed 1.7 million people in 2009, equal to 4,700 deaths per day.