Doctors in Glasgow are treating the UK's first diagnosed case of the drug-resistant XDR tuberculosis strain. The man who has the XDR-TB strain is reported to have come to the UK from Somalia. He is now in isolation at the Gartnavel General Hospital. The "super strength" strain of the disease is extremely resistant to traditional antibiotics, and has to be treated with a cocktail of drugs. Doctors have said there is no risk to the general public. It is first time a patient has been diagnosed with XDR-TB in the UK, but health experts believe a case went undiagnosed in 2003. The disease is prevalent in many other countries. About half of XDR-TB cases are fatal. It can take up to 18 months for an infected patient to recover. XDR-TB needs to be treated with a combination of antibiotics to ensure that the treatment is successful in curing the patient and preventing transmission to others. Tuberculosis spreads through close and prolonged contact with the infected person. Dr Oliver Blatchford, a public health consultant at NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde, said XDR-TB is no more infectious that ordinary TB, but does require different treatment. Dr Blatchford added: "The contacts of this case are being screened in the same way as ordinary TB contacts and will be monitored closely to ensure that any further cases are identified early and treated quickly." Dr Jim McMenamen, a consultant epidemiologist at Health Protection Scotland, added: "I don't think that there's any risk to the general population because we have taken very prompt measures to try and manage the chance of this person spreading the infection to others." Nearly nine million people a year fall ill from TB and more than one and a half million die from it. The World Health Organization estimates that nearly 500,000 people a year become infected with drug-resistant TB. Source: BBC