**2. Epidemiology of Drug Resistant TB**

WHO reported that in 2018 there were an estimated 484,000 incident cases of MDR/rifampin-resistant (RR) TB cases, including about 378,000 MDR-TB cases and 214,000 deaths [1]. The average proportion of MDR-TB cases with XDR-TB was 6.2%. The countries accounting for 50% of the global burden of MDR/RR-TB were India (27%), China (14%) and the Russian Federation (9%). Among 24 countries with a high TB or MDR-TB burden and representative data to second-line drugs, the proportion of MDR/RR TB cases with resistance to any FQ including ofloxacin (OFL), levofloxacin (LFX) and moxifloxacin (MFX) was 20.8%. At the global level, 3.4% of new cases (patients never treated with anti-TB medicines, or treated for < 1 month) and 18% of previously treated cases (patients treated for ≥ 1 month in the past) had MDR/RR-TB, with the highest proportion occurring in the former Soviet Union (FSU) countries. In the low incidence countries of the European Economic Area, the MDR-TB was more prevalent among migrants (particularly from the FSU) than the native population [4,5].
