The World Health Organization (WHO) has identified a frightening new strain of tuberculosis (TB) that is resistant to all drug treatments, according to Dr. Paul Nunn. This strain is starting to appear in the U.S., China, India, Eastern Europe, and Africa, where around 425,000 cases have been reported. No cases have shown up in Western Europe or Asia - yet.

According to Nunn, this new strain is a result of improper treatment and misuse of antibiotics. TB specialists are meeting this week in Johannesburg, South Africa to discuss strategies on how to combat the new strain.

Normal TB kills about 1.7 million people all over the world on a yearly basis - so this new strain, identified as "Multi-Drug Resistant" (MDR) is of special concern to the medical community. This some of the more virulent strains of TB require the use of what are known as "second-line drugs", which are more toxic, take longer to work and more expensive. Unfortunately, the MDR fails to respond not only to the usual front-line drugs, but over half of the second-line ones as well. This makes the new strains "virtually untreatable".

Dr. Nunn also warns that people with HIV are particularly at risk. Because of this, the MRD TB is likely to hit developing countries much harder. "This is very worrying, especially when mixed with HIV. We need to make sure we do the basics properly, in other words, ensuring, and where necessary, supervising that the patient takes ever pill for the course of the treatment," says Dr. Nunn. "If you do that, then the rate of development of resistance drops dramatically, even in the context of HIV." He adds that the development of new drug therapies is also important. Research into new drugs and vaccines are currently underway, he says.