Drug-Resistant Tuberculosis, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa, 2001–2007

Abstract

In Africa, incidence and prevalence of drug-resistant tuberculosis have been assumed to be low. However, investigation after a 2005 outbreak of extensively drug-resistant tuberculosis in KwaZulu-Natal Province, South Africa, found that the incidence rate for multidrug-resistant tuberculosis in KwaZulu-Natal was among the highest globally and would be higher if case-finding efforts were intensified.