"The journal Lancet Infectious Diseases examines the worldwide spread of extensively drug-resistant tuberculosis (XDR-TB). Currently, about 500,000 of the 9 million new cases of TB that are identified each year are strains of XDR-TB. "Drug resistance is largely man-made - it is vitally important to review antibiotic treatment strategies and to ensure the Stop TB Strategy is fully applied to prevent further selection of drug-resistant mutants," Leonard Amaral of Universidade Nova de Lisboa said. XDR-TB - "which is resistant to isoniazid and rifampicin (two first-line TB drugs), any fluoroquinolone, and at least one of the three injectable second-line drugs: amikacin, kanamycin, and capreomycin" - is "widespread" in Europe and the Middle East, according to the journal." - Steven Perez from Bookmarklet