A new test for diagnosing tuberculosis offers a quick and simple alternative to existing three-day methods, according to research published today in the journal Clinical Infectious Diseases.

In a retrospective study of 700 patients with culture-positive tuberculosis (TB), relapse rates were found to be significantly higher in HIV-infected patients compared to HIV-uninfected patients following a rifamycin-based regimen.

U.S. health officials have quarantined an airline passenger who may have exposed others to a potentially dangerous form of tuberculosis. The unusual decision was made after the passenger took flights from the U.S. to Europe, then to Montreal, Canada before reentering the United States.

Greater social support is urgently needed to meet the complex needs of the growing number of socially disadvantaged UK residents suffering from Tuberculosis (TB), according to a study in the latest Journal of Advanced Nursing.

The latest research from two Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) studies looking at the epidemiology of tuberculosis (TB) in the United States will be presented at the American Thoracic Society 2007 International Conference on Sunday, May 20, in San Francisco. The studies focus on two groups with higher-than-average rates of TB: foreign-born persons and African Americans living in the southeastern United States.

Scientists have shown that a single 2.5mg dose of vitamin D may be enough to boost the immune system to fight against tuberculosis (TB) and similar bacteria for at least 6 weeks. Their findings came from a study that identified an extraordinarily high incidence of vitamin D deficiency amongst those communities in London most at risk from the disease, which kills around two million people each year.

Tiny, biodegradable particles filled with medicine may also contain answers to some of the biggest human health problems, including cancer and tuberculosis. The secret is the size of the package.

Public health officials are growing increasingly concerned about drug resistant forms of tuberculosis. Last year, in the KwaZulu-Natal province of South Africa, an outbreak of extensively drug-resistant TB killed 52 of 53 people infected. TB is highly contagious, and to keep drug-resistant types from spreading, some health experts are considering mandatory quarantines.

There is the unknown extent of the deadly new strain of tuberculosis in South Africa and the region. This problem is a cause for concern, an international health expert said Wednesday. Dr Fabio Scano, a TB expert from the World Health Organization in Geneva, has been sent to South Africa at the request of the government to assist with the outbreak of the extensively drug-resistant tuberculosis strain, or XDR-TB.

Nearly 2 million people die from tuberculosis each year, mainly in the poorest countries. The pathogen, Koch's bacillus, can pass easily by aerial infection from one individual to another. The spread of the disease, favoured by the Aids epidemic and the appearance of multi-resistant strains, has led WHO to make tuberculosis control one of the world's main health priorities.

The World Health Organization (WHO) says the rise of a drug-resistant strain of tuberculosis (TB) is threatening efforts to bring the global epidemic of ordinary TB under control.

Tuberculosis in Russia is one of the country's top health emergencies. The country has the highest TB mortality rate in Europe, 20 times higher than in the West. About half of all cases reported in the former Soviet Union are in Russia. Of particular concern in the region is the prevelance of a drug-resistant form of TB. VOA's Lisa McAdams in Moscow looks at Russian and Eurasian efforts to contain the disease, which doubled in the 1990s, but has leveled off since 2000.