Malta launches screening procedures

Malta has had only one reported case of multi-drug resistant tuberculosis this year, The Times has learnt.

It was one of 29 cases of tuberculosis (TB) reported in Malta since January but a Health Division spokesman stressed it was not the extensively drug resistant type (XDR TB) that is causing concern in Europe.

Multi-drug resistant tuberculosis is a form of TB that is resilient to two or more of the primary drugs used for its treatment. XDR tuberculosis is also resistant to drugs, but is considered to be virtually untreatable. Resistance to treatment takes place when the TB bacteria develops the ability to withstand antibiotic attack.

Alarm bells about the emergence of a dangerous strain of tuberculosis hitting Europe started ringing with the emergence of a new strain of TB that is spreading in Eastern Europe and central Asia. Health officials have warned that these drug-resistant strains of tuberculosis are posing a serious threat to EU countries.

The TB's drug resistance was described by the head of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, Markku Niksala, as "the most alarming tuberculosis situation on the continent since World War II" and he urged EU leaders not to allow it to get further out of hand.

The Health Division spokesman agreed that the emergence of drug resistant tuberculosis was a major public health problem worldwide, adding that the World Health Organisation sees it as a threat to global tuberculosis control.

"Malta is taking the necessary action in screening people coming from highly endemic countries to reduce the risk of spread in Malta."

The spokesman explained that non-EU citizens coming from countries where TB is highly endemic are screened before they are given an employment licence. Illegal immigrants are also screened on arrival.

Moreover, 12- to 14-year-old children are offered vaccination against TB while those who work with illegal immigrants are offered screening. Although anyone can get tuberculosis, some groups of the population are more prone to getting active TB. These include those infected with HIV, those in close contact with TB-infected people, malnourished people, those coming from countries with high TB rates, alcoholics, intravenous drug users and homeless people.