China now has the second-largest tuberculosis epidemic — second only to India — with more than 1.3 million new cases of tuberculosis every year.

What makes the situation particularly serious, says the Chinese Center for Disease Control, is that China has the largest number of patients with Multiple Drug Resistant Tuberculosis (MDR-TB). Extremely Resistant Drug Tuberculosis (XDR-TB) is also widespread.

This shows the need to step up efforts to combat the disease. In 1993, the World Health Organization (WHO) instituted a cost-effective treatment called DOTS (a directly observed treatment of a short course of drugs) that was very effective in combating TB in low-income countries. Over time, though, patients began developing resistance to the drugs used for treatment, causing MDR-TB to spread.