TB pandemic lurks?

It amazes you - absolutely amazes you - that this is even a topic in 2008, but this shows you how much the world's living standards have fallen behind in this decade.

Tuberculosis - thought by many to be consigned to a dreary world of old - is mutating into new strains that are completely resistant to drugs. Most terrifyingly, one of the new strains is called XDR-TB - meaning extensively drug-resistant. It is contagious, and it kills slowly and agonizingly, as victims are forced to waste away.

Worldwide, 40,000 new cases of XDR-TB are emerging each year now. And not just in remote lands but also in America, especially in prisons and institutions.

The real tragedy is that the formation of this strain could have been prevented. But because of greed, it was not. Other strains of TB are curable with drugs. But many sufferers were not treated, because of the high costs of medicine - and the disease mutated.

In recent years, more attention has been paid to vanity medicine for those who are relatively well-off than to fighting deadly diseases that can afflict anyone. If millions of dollars aren't poured into researching how to let wealthy 80-year-olds look like they're 25, it's considered an outrage. But when drug companies overcharge for medicine that could save countless lives, that's called the "free market."

(Source: http://www.cnn.com/2008/HEALTH/11/17/tb.pandemic)