A study funded by the Wellcome Trust and the Sir Halley Stewart Trust has shown that opening windows can be more effective than using mechanical ventilation at reducing the risk of transmission of airborne diseases such as tuberculosis (TB).

Smoking appears to increase the risk of becoming infected with tuberculosis and the risk for the development of active disease upon infection, according to an analysis of previously published research in the February 26 issue of Archives of Internal Medicine, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.

Bioengineers and public health researchers at Harvard University have developed a novel spraying method for delivering the most common tuberculosis (TB) vaccine, providing a new low-cost and scaleable technique that offers needle-free delivery and greater stability at room temperature than existing methods. The process could one day provide a better approach for vaccination against TB and help prevent the related spread of HIV/AIDS in the developing world.

One in five Ethiopians treated for tuberculosis fails to complete the length course of drugs required, according to a study by Ethiopian and Norwegian researchers, published in PLoS Medicine. The research has made clear some of the difficulties that patients must overcome in order to succeed in completing a course of treatment. People who cannot easily travel to a treatment centre are the most likely to 'default'.

A stable social structure may help control the spread of bovine tuberculosis (TB) among badgers, ecologists have found. The findings - published online in the British Ecological Society's Journal of Animal Ecology - have important implications for the role of badger culling as part of the strategy to control bovine TB in the UK.

The number of individuals with Parkinson's disease in 15 of the world's largest nations will double over the next generation, according to a study published in the January 30 issue of the journal Neurology. The study highlights the significant challenge facing countries with rapidly growing economies, particularly in Asia, many of which are ill prepared to meet this impending public health threat.

Patients with tuberculosis in the West African country of Senegal who participated in an intervention program that included improved communication with health personnel and community involvement had higher cure and treatment completion rates, according to a study in the January 24/31 issue of JAMA.

To eliminate tuberculosis (TB) in the United States, current guidelines should be changed to reclassify all foreign-born residents from high-incidence countries as "high-risk," regardless of the amount of time they have lived in the U.S.

Latent infection with tuberculosis is common and some infected people develop the active form of the disease. Health-care workers (HCWs) can become infected, develop active disease, and c an pass their infection on to patients and others.

A new study by the World Health Organization has found drug-resistant tuberculosis in virtually all of the 79 countries the organization surveyed around the world, with particularly high levels in countries of the former Soviet Union and some Chinese provinces. VOA's Jessica Berman reports.