Alarming new data shows TB-HIV co-infection a big...( WASHINGTONThe World Health Organizat...),Health

WASHINGTONThe World Health Organization released staggering new data about the threat of tuberculosis and the toll it takes on people with HIV/AIDS today, in recognition of World TB Day.

The TB-HIV co-infection crisis is twice as big as previously thought, the new WHO figures show. In 2007, there were at least 1.37 million cases of HIV-positive TBor nearly 15 percent of the total incident cases. That's double the previous WHO estimates.

"A global health catastrophe is unfolding," said Gerald Friedland, a professor of Medicine, Epidemiology and Public Health at Yale University School of Medicine and a leading expert on the emerging threat.

In addition, the WHO data shows that drug-resistant TB is on the rise. There were more than 500,000 cases of MDR-TB in 2007, the WHO reported. And by the end of 2008, at least 55 countries and territories had identified at least one case of extensively drug-resistant TB.

In light of the new WHO figures and increasing concern about the threat of drug-resistant TB, leading physicians and scientists are urging the Obama administration to triple the U.S. donation to the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria and to dramatically ramp up the U.S.'s own vastly-underfunded global TB programs.

Right now, nearly 60 countries are seeking new Global Fund grants for anti-TB programs. But the Fund, facing a $5 billion donation shortfall, may not be able to finance any of these desperately needed efforts.

Five world-renown experts on TB and HIV are available to discuss the new WHO dataset to be released on March 24th, World TB Day. They can address the scope of the TB-HIV co-infection crisis and talk about how U.S. policy makers should respond.

Tuberculosis is sometimes a forgotten and neglected disease. But an estimated one-third of the world's population is infected with the bacterium that causes TB, and the disease kills nearly 1.7 million people each year
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