Tuberculosis on the rise in Russia

According to the Washington Post, Russia's severe TB problem is about to get much worse, increasing the risk that the dangerous drug-resistant strains that are common here will spread, causing outbreaks elsewhere. It seems the economic crisis is leading to a health crisis. Decreased living standards and poor access to medicine are just a couple reasons the TB problem has worsened and is likely to get much worse. Also to blame? The government. They didn't so much do a great job at ordering supplies last year.

Treatment for TB is free, but Russia's chief epidemiologist, Gennady Onishchenko, warned in a 2007 report that only 9 percent of the country's TB hospitals met basic hygiene standards, nearly a fifth suffered shortages of required drugs and more than 40 percent lacked adequate medical equipment. Some didn't have sewage systems or running water, he said.