DHAKA: Global efforts to rein in tuberculosis helped cut the death toll to 1.3 million last year, but drug-resistant forms of the disease are sparking huge concern.

The WHO said on Wednesday, reports The Straits Times.

The TB toll is the world’s second-highest for an infectious disease, after HIV/AIDS.

In its annual report on the fight against the killer disease, the World Health Organisation said the number who died in 2012 was 100,000 fewer than the previous year.

The number of people who caught TB in 2012 was estimated at 8.6 million, which was also 100,000 down on 2011 and almost half the level in 1990.

BDST: 1558 HRS, OCT 27, 2013
RoR/SRS