CBSE topper 83rd victim of TB strain this yr

Mumbai: The death of 2011 CBSE Class XII topper Shreeram Radhakrishnan due to multiple drug-resistant (MDR) TB has once again alerted the city about a surreptitious killer. 
    While graft and terror occupied headlines, MDR-TB cases grew silently but frenetically over the last two years. From just over 50 in 2010, the number of confirmed cases of the strain in Mumbai increased by over 40 times to cross 2,000 this year. As for the number of suspected infections, from 74 in 2010, they crossed 10,000 in 2012. The 19-year-old Radhakrishnan was MDR-TB's 83rd victim this year. Deadly strain of TB has grown 40 times in 2 yrs 
    Multiple drug-resistant (MDR) TB, which has claimed 83 lives in Mumbai this year, including that of 2011 CBSE class XII topper Shreeram Radhakrishnan, is not the only fatal strain of the disease that is stalking Mumbai. There is one even more so, but with a lesser incidence: extremely drug-resistant (XDR) TB, which has killed four in the city and infected 21 in 2012. 
    The BMC says 1,497 of those who tested positive for MDR-TB have been put on treatment. Additional municipal commissioner (health) Manisha Mhaiskar said there were various reasons why the remaining people were not on treatment. "In all, 106 are from outside Mumbai, 88 are seeking treatment in private hospitals, 68 are not traceable and 135 should be put on treatment in the next two weeks." 
    According to Mhaiskar, the reason why MDR-TB has grown by 40 times in the last two years is that there has been better detection owing to better diagnostic techniques in the city. "MDR-TB has always been prevalent. But after the introduction of criteria 'C' by the central government, new diagnostic facilities like gene expertise and data collection from all hospitals and laboratories have ensured that there is better diagnosis of the strain," she said. 
    Criteria 'C' means that any patient suffering from MDR-TB—even those previously on private treatment-—can be included under the government-run Revised National Tuberculosis Control Programme (RNTCP), which ensures free treatment to patients. 
    But doctors say the city was largely ignorant about MDR-TB till this year. "It was only earlier this year, when the extra-extensively drug resistant (XXDR) TB strain was brought to the notice of the authorities, did the government become alert towards MDR-TB. Prior to this, most doctors tried various drugs and would then come to a conclusion on if the strain was multiple drug-resistant. By the time the correct treatment was found, the patient would die. What's more, MDR-TB+ cases were hardly reported and deaths would be marked as TB deaths," said a senior chest doctor from a private hospital.