India just received a $144 million loan from the World Bank to fight Tuberculosis that has infected almost half of the nation's 980 million citizens. The report said that internationally, the disease now ranks as the biggest killer of young people and adults. The latest figures reveal it causes 500,000 deaths in India each year. According to the World Health Organization, India, Bangladesh, Indonesia, Myanmar and Thailand account for 95 percent of the tuberculosis cases reported in Southeast Asia. The global spread of the disease is unchecked with almost a third of the world's population estimated to be infected with TB, although only about 10% of those are expected to develop full-blown tuberculosis.

The elimination of smallpox two decades ago led many to hope that infectious diseases would soon cease to be a problem. Vaccines against polio, measles, and diphtheria have all proven to be useful in greatly reducing disease rates. However since 1973, almost 30 new disease-causing microbes have been identified, including hepatitis C virus and HIV. Meanwhile, other pathogens, such as tuberculosis, have rebounded and shown drug-resistance. Tuberculosis is now the top infectious disease killer of adults worldwide. HIV promises to reduce the life expectancy in a number of countries, including Zimbabwe. Researchers blame the rising levels of these diseases on a number of factors, including increased travel and climate changes that facilitate the spread of pathogens. Vaccines continue to play a key role in the ability to control infectious diseases, but researchers note that multi-disciplinary prevention approaches need to be instituted in order to increase success. (Source: E Magazine)

Rich countries are spending $350 million to fight the AIDS epidemic, but their spending is not keeping up with the spread of the virus, Reuters quoted a UN study released Wednesday. Between 1990 and 1997, the number of people infected with the virus that causes AIDS tripled from 9.8 million to 30.3 million, the study found. During that time, funding for HIV and AIDS prevention grew from $165 million to $273 million. In 1999, 47 million people are estimated to have HIV -- nearly five times as many as in 1990 -- but the $350 million spent to control it is only slightly more than double the 1990 funding level.

One out of every 1,000 Americans could be walking around infected with HIV without even knowing it. A new study in "low-risk" people revealed the shocking news. A new urine test has detected the AIDS virus in people who showed no signs of infection in their blood. The scientists who did the research said that it now could explain why people mysteriously die of AIDS without having signs of HIV infection. They also said it could possibly help determine why some people resist infection.

Because of Russia's overcrowded prison system a deadly disease is on the march. Many prisoners have a new untreatable form of Tuberculosis (TB) and it is spreading with terrifying speed. Ten per cent of Russia's one million prisoners suffer from TB and 20% of them are thought to have the drug-resistant strain-which means 20,000 are condemned to die. The disease is multiplying in the festering conditions of Russia's overcrowded cells. In many prisons inmates have to sleep in shifts. Poor diet, stress and depressed immune systems make the prisoners vulnerable targets. Prison clinics cannot afford to treat patients with the full course of drugs, so the disease becomes resistant and even more difficult and expensive to cure. Russia's penal system is becoming a time bomb for the rest of the world. Once TB-infected prisoners step outside the prison gates, there is nothing to stop them[from] spreading the disease onto the streets of Russian cities and beyond. Most of the people standing outside a European charity run clinic in Moscow are ex-prisoners. Many of them have TB and all are homeless. Because they are not registered with the city authorities, the Russian health system refuses to treat them.

Reuters reported that the former Soviet republic of Kazakhstan faces a tuberculosis epidemic similar to that in Russia if urgent measures to stem its spread are not taken immediately. A health official was quoted as saying, "Practically every person in our country has failed to receive any defense against this disease. No one is immune and new cases of tuberculosis are occurring all the time. We have to take urgent measures." The report went on to say that cases of the highly contagious disease rose by 17,000 in the first 11 months of 1998 to reach 73,000 out of a total population of about 16 million. (Matthew 24:7; Luke 21:1)

The Zambian Ministry of Health reports that over 70 percent of the country's population is infected with tuberculosis. The announcement came as part of last week's World TB Day events. The deputy minister of health, Ernest Mwansa, said that the country has the highest TB rate in Southern Africa and that the disease has become a major health problem in part due to Zambia's high rate of HIV infection, with 30 percent of TB cases associated with HIV. Mwansa urged people who show symptoms to seek treatment as early as possible, although he noted that the government has no resources to buy drugs for individuals infected with drug-resistant TB. (Source: PANA Wire Service)