A year after PD Hinduja Hospital announced the detection of 12 cases of totally drug-resistant (TDR) tuberculosis, the hospital has reported eight more cases of the strain.

As the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) does not classify cases as TDR, preferring to list all severe drug resistant cases under the wider term Extra Extensively Drug Resistant Tuberculosis (XXDR), the new cases at Hinduja Hospital show that the city continues to see more cases of the severe form of tuberculosis.

While XXDR tuberculosis is classified as a form resistant to at least two of the 12 prescribed anti-TB drugs, TDR, the severest form, is resistant to all 12 drugs.   

From January 2012, Hinduja Hospital has reported 20 patients, including the 12 new cases, who are resistant to all known 12 anti-TB drugs.

Of these 20 patients, six have succumbed to the disease. Following the Mahim hospital’s announcement, the central government team had visited the city and classified these cases as XXDR and not TDR.