In Brief...World News Review - TB Infects Third of World Population

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In Brief...World News Review - TB Infects Third of World Population

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Nearly a third of the world's population is infected with the bacterium that causes tuberculosis, according to a report published [in August], with 7.96 million new cases of the disease reported in 1997.

The study, by the World Health Organization (WHO) blamed poor control strategies for the situation, adding that more than half of the new cases reported in 1997 occurred in five Southeast Asian countries.

Control failures were also cited for high rates in sub-Saharan Africa and Eastern Europe, along with high rates of HIV infection in some African countries where the disease has hit people whose immune systems have been weakened.

The study, published in The Journal of the American Medical Association, estimated that in the 212 countries monitored by WHO, 1.86 billion people, or 32 percent of the global population, now carry the bacterium that causes the disease (1999 Reuters Limited).