Extreme Drug Resistant Tuberculosis is threatening Global Pandemic: A death every 20 secs!

A mutated form of Tuberculosis (TB) termed XDR (Extreme Drug Resistant) is killing people like flies across large swathes of Asia and Africa. Victims die within weeks of diagnois. TB attacks lungs with usual symptoms including chronic cough, blood tinged sputum, and fever. XDR quickly graduates to attacking the central nervous systems, lymphatic nodes, circulatory system, joints and skin -- causing rapid weight loss.

Award winning photo-journalist, James Nachtwey, considered the leading war photo-journalist of the last few decades has taken some heart rending photographs of victims. He is leading a global campaign to spread awareness about the epidemic.

The disease spreads through the air when infected people sneeze, cough or spit. Currently one person is dying every 20 seconds in some 49 infected countries and regions including South Africa, Thailand, india and Serbia. A Pandemic is "an epidemic of infectious disease that spreads through human populations across a large region such as a continent or worldwide." That is exactly what XDR TB threatens to do unless preventive measures are taken. An activist website has been set up at www.xdrtb.org for those who want to help.