Three nongovernmental organizations have called for a worldwide effort to fight the spread of multidrug-resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB) in Russia.
In a statement issued last month, the relief groups Doctors Without Borders and the Medical Emergency Relief Network International, along with the Public Health Research Institute (PHRI), a nonprofit biomedical research organization, said the number of MDR-TB cases has reached alarming levels. Invoking the name of a deadly African disease, they described the spread of MDR-TB in Russia as "Ebola with wings."
The joint statement said the country's economic crisis will only worsen the problem if patients' anti-TB therapy is interrupted, resulting in increased drug resistance. The organizations called particular attention to health conditions in Russian prisons, where they estimated that 20000 inmates may have MDR-TB. With support from a project funded by US philanthropist George Soros, representatives from PHRI toured prisons in two Russian cities last month.
The relief groups and PHRI have asked the international medical community to help raise $100 million for an emergency TB program in Russia.
