China's Health Ministry is to launch a two-year national survey on patient resistance to drugs to treat tuberculosis.

The survey, scheduled to start in April, will be conducted at 70 research bases covering all of China's provinces, ethnic minority regions, and four municipalities, a ministry official said.

"The situation of tuberculosis drug-resistance in China is thought to be very serious. The international organizations estimate Chinese account for 25 to 33 percent of the world's total infections," said Xiao Donglou, deputy director of the ministry's Center For Disease Control and Prevention (CCDCP).

Xiao said the ministry would establish a monitoring system for drug-resistance as the survey progressed.

The survey is expected to cost more than 17 million yuan (US$2.15 million), including the purchase of facilities, according to Xiao.

A similar survey in 2000 based on a much smaller research pool showed 27.8 percent of patients were resistant to one drug and 10.7 percent to more than one.

"The high rate of drug-resistance leads to a high death rate and the issue has become a priority in the country's disease prevention efforts," said Zhao Yanlin, a CCDCP researcher.

Zhao said the survey would lay a solid basis for the tuberculosis research.

(Xinhua News Agency March 21, 2007)