SAfrica recorded 300 cases of TB super bug-report

JOHANNESBURG, Nov 24 (Reuters) South Africa has recorded 303 cases of a highly drug-resistant strain of tuberculosis this year, raising fears a super bug is spreading in the AIDS-ravaged country, the health department was quoted as saying.

South Africa's health department did not have details on how many people had died of XDR-TB, the South African Press Association reported yesterday.

''They are in the hospitals, they are on treatment. Some of them, have died,'' SAPA quoted the department's head of TB, Dr Lindiwe Mvusi, as saying.

Experts say the super bug could wreak havoc in South Africa, where one in nine people are already infected with HIV, making them more vulnerable to tuberculosis.

An easily transferred airborne respiratory disease, tuberculosis is the main direct cause of death for people with AIDS in South Africa, and health officials worry the spread of a highly resistant strain could complicate the battle against HIV.

No one at the health department could immediately be reached for comment.

SAPA said the health department had recorded 263 cases of XDR in KwaZulu Natal -- the eastern province where the super bug was discovered and which has been most heavily affected by the strain.

Ten cases had been recorded each in the Eastern Cape and the North West provinces with nine in Gauteng -- which includes the economic hub of Johannesburg and Pretoria.

Most of the patients diagnosed during the initial outbreak died quickly, although some doctors say patients diagnosed more recently and on treatment, appear to be surviving longer.

XDR TB was first identified in KwaZulu Natal earlier this year, SAPA said in its report.

REUTERS AB VV0912