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Nature Medicine 13, 271 (1 March 2007) | doi:10.1038/nm0307-271a;

Virtually incurable TB warns of impending disaster

Apoorva Mandavilli

Like something out of a horror movie, a lethal strain of tuberculosis blazed in 2005 across Tugela Ferry, a small village in South Africa, striking down nearly everyone it touched. The strain, dubbed XDR for extensively drug-resistant, doesn't respond to known TB drugs and killed 52 of 53 infected individuals—all those tested found to be HIV-positive—and all of them within weeks of diagnosis (Lancet 368, 1575–1580; 2006).

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