Baby killed after parents attempt mass suicide because they had all contracted drug-resistant tuberculosis
The parents forced their children to drink pesticide and attacked them with knives before trying to take their own lives
A BABY girl has been killed after her parents attempted a mass suicide because the family had developed drug-resistant tuberculosis.
Two other young boys - believed to be the tot's brothers - were left in hospital following the attack.
The parents, from near Mandalay, Myanmar, forced their children to drink pesticide and then attacked them with knives.
And then, in a scene of barely-imaginable horror, they tried in vain to take their own lives on Saturday.
The one-year-old baby girl died on the spot and the two boys, aged seven and nine, are now in hospital being treated for their injuries along with their parents.
Local lawmaker Sein Win said the poverty-stricken couple had long had tuberculosis.
They later became depressed after learning their infection was now resistant to treatment.
"As their disease is contagious, nobody wanted to work with them," he told AFP.
"They thought they were going to die because there was no treatment. They became crazed and tried to commit suicide with the whole family."
Authorities confirmed police are investigating the incident.
Myanmar has one of the highest rates of tuberculosis in the world, with more than 140,000 cases on record, according to the World Health Organisation.
An estimated 9,000 people are infected each year with a drug-resistant form of the disease.
The government has launched a programme to reduce deaths from tuberculosis by 95 per cent and cut new cases by 90 per cent by 2035.
But many of the rural poor struggle to keep up with the treatment, allowing the disease to become resistant.
Tuberculosis, which is caused by a bacteria that infects the lungs and can be spread through the air, is one of the most deadly diseases in the world.
An estimated 1.8 million people died from tuberculosis in 2015 - making it among the top ten killers worldwide.
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