SEOUL, Sept. 13 (Yonhap) -- South Korea's health authorities said Friday that tuberculosis (TB) has been the top infectious disease in the county for a decade.

Vital tuberculosis (TB) medication is running worryingly low across Burma, with medical officials in Rangoon saying supplies will run out by October.

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - People affected by multidrug-resistant tuberculosis can benefit from new blister packaging that extends the shelf life of an antibiotic treatment from two years to three years.

When Rep. Gene Green (D-TX) practiced as an attorney in Texas during the 1980s, some of his clients had become infected with tuberculosis that had become resistant to the first and best line of treatment. He had to talk to them through walls to avoid exposure to the disease, he said, often having to shout to be heard. He recounted his experience at a congressional briefing on the threat of antibiotic resistance in the U.S. on Tuesday.

Anirban Mukherjee is from Kolkata. An only child, he is 32 years old and educated till Class 10. No one else, except him, in his family has ever had TB. He has never smoked nor ever eaten gutkha/paan masala, but used to take alcohol occasionally in the past.

[Images] Earlier this year we at CNS had visited many biosafety level (BSL) III laboratories in India where one of the latest diagnostic tools were available to do drug susceptibility testing (DST) for tuberculosis (TB). One red-coloured sticker on most of these diagnostic tools caught our attention: UNITAID. This organization not only raises 70% of its core funding by innovative financing mechanisms such as by levying a small fee on airline tickets, but also has made a difference differently when compared with other traditional donors.

[Images] There is no doubt that tuberculosis (TB) and HIV care should be integrated at different levels, particularly in high burden settings. Being part of the UNITAID mission to report from the global launch of the largest-ever roll-out of Gene Xpert MTB/RIF machines in Yangon, Citizen News Service - CNS got an opportunity to witness an inspiring work done in Myanmar since 2005 where TB and HIV care services are getting increasingly integrated at different levels, with support from the International Union Against Tuberculosis and Lung Disease (The Union) and partners.

[Images] Diagnosing tuberculosis (TB) and also getting to know with accuracy about resistance to one of the two most powerful anti-TB drugs (Rifampicin) within two hours is increasingly becoming a reality on the ground. The largest-ever roll-out of Gene Xpert MTB/RIF machines in countries most severely hit by drug-resistant TB was launched on 10th September 2013 at the National Tuberculosis Reference Laboratory in Yangon, Myanmar, with support from UNITAID, an organization whose 70% funding is raised by innovative financing mechanisms such as levying a small fee on airline tickets.

Mycobacterium tuberculosis, the bacterium that causes tuberculosis may have an Achilles’ heel: It needs a particular enzyme to survive. Inhibiting that enzyme’s function, researchers have shown, will kill the bacteria, pointing toward a design strategy for new TB drugs.

We’re looking forward to seeing participants at the upcoming Critical Path to New TB Drug Regimens Workshop in Washington, DC.