Children below the age of 15 years account for about 10 to 12 per cent of India's overall TB burden.
As per the statistics of the World Health Organisation, there are an estimated one lakh people in India who are suffering from XDR-TB that is resistant to the drugs like Isoniazid and Rifampicin used to treat multidrug-resistant TB besides being resistant to medicines used in second-line treatment of the bacterial disease.
The study, 'Anti-tuberculosis drug resistance in the world', is based on data collected between 2002 and 2006 on 90,000 TB patients in 81 countries. It found that extensively drug-resistant tuberculosis (XDR-TB), a virtually untreatable form of the respiratory disease, has been recorded in 45 countries.
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