Epidemiologist Gary Slutkin has taken the lessons he's learned fighting TB and HIV/AIDS and applied them to stop the spread of gun violence. Because like those diseases, violence is contagious.
Drug-resistant tuberculosis is a growing problem. It's spread through the air. It can kill you. And it's incredibly difficult to treat. But a program in Peru shows that the disease can be cured.
In tests of anti-malarial pills and antibiotics, 9 to 41 percent didn't meet quality standards. And the world does a crummy job chasing criminals who reap $75 billion a year from counterfeit meds.
When a person is diagnosed with extensively drug-resistant tuberculosis, the treatment is so long and painful that some countries decide it's not worth bothering. Partners In Health disagrees.
That's what a patient in Russia said a few years ago. In fact, 1.5 million people do die of the airborne infection each year. Here's what the world needs to do to fight this generally curable scourge.
After you hear her story, you'll never think the same way about the disease. That's the goal of Visual Epidemiology, a company that makes videos about individual battles instead of the big picture.
Public health has a way of slipping off the radar when people aren't scared about Ebola or anthrax. But that doesn't mean the threats go away. And most states aren't prepared for the next one.