Diagnosing multidrug-resistant tuberculosis will now take just two days time.In a major announcement the WHO decided to make available a path-breaking rapid molecular-diagnostic tool that will generate TB test results in two days flat. Currently standard tests take up to three months.This is why only 2% of MDR-TB cases world-wide are being diagnosed and treated appropriately.MDR-TB is difficult and expensive to treat and fails to respond to standard first line drugs.Every year an estimated 4.9 lakh new MDR-TB cases occur causing 1.3 lakh deaths.
India has 3.8 million TB patients at any time. India records 18 lakh new cases of TB annually.Over 6 lakh Indians are unaware that they suffer from TB.