Abstract:

Tuberculosis (TB) remains one amongst the most chronic communicable diseases being a serious community health problem in the world. Pathogenic bacteria Mycobacterium tuberculosis causes this disease, which generally have an effect on the lungs but may also adversely affect other organs. M. tuberculosis can build up resistance against the antimicrobial therapeutic drugs which are frequently used to cure the disease. There exist different types of tuberculosis (DR-TB) which are resistant to the drugs prescribed for its treatment. Some selective strains of the TB bacteria develop resistance to the standard drugs through the mechanism that involves genetic alteration. Improper treatment of the disease and its horizontal transmission in the community remain the major reasons of increase in the frequency of drug resistant TB. In India, an estimated burden of this disease remains 2.69 million cases. Higher mortality rates have been reported in TB-HIV co-infection cases. This review portrays the current status of this chronic disease with special reference to India.

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