A “virtually untreatable” form of tuberculosis is quickly emerging across the globe, according to a federal report Thursday.

The total number of infections by the new strain is relatively small, but researchers fear it will spread rapidly in the TB incubators of Eastern Europe, India and China.

In 2004, the strain accounted for 11 percent of all drug-resistant TB cases in industrialized countries, up from 3 percent in 2000. “The time to act is now to prevent a new pandemic,” said Dr. Marcos Espinal, executive secretary of the World Health Organization’s (WHO) Stop TB Partnership.

Source: Seattle Times

–Considering I just the The Constant Gardener, this is pretty scary.

“Using a standard statistical test, there is more than a 50 percent chance that a violent eruption will happen at Vesuvius next year. With each year that goes by, the statistical probability increases,” he said.

Source: Discovery