When Dr. Jarbas Barbosa’s father practiced in Brazil decades ago, patients begged him to diagnose them with cancer, rather than tuberculosis. Back then,TB was worse than cancer. Now, Brazil is one of many countries in the Americas that have reached the Millennium Development goal of halving TB incidence, ahead of schedule.

While global death rates from some of the biggest infectious disease killers have dropped markedly in recent years, mortality rates from TB have been the same, with 1.5 to 2 million people dying each year from the curable disease.  According to Salman Keshavjee, of Harvard Medical School, we need to change the paradigm when it comes to TB control to see the same results we’ve seen from global HIV/AIDS and malaria responses.

How do you reach the three million people who become ill with tuberculosis every year, but go undetected, suffering and dying needlessly, while infecting others? The answer is simple: take a risk. TB REACH, a program of the Stop TB Partnership, has embraced the “inherent risk of innovation” to find new, more effective approaches to TB case detection, which are tailored uniquely to reach different vulnerable populations.

The new paradigm in TB treatment focuses on using existing drugs and evaluating them in combination to develop better, shorter regimens.

Science Speaks is live-blogging from IDWEEK 2013. Meeting in San Francisco from Oct. 2-6, with the theme “Advancing Science, Improving Care,” the conference features breaking scientific advances and approaches in prevention, diagnosis, treatment, and epidemiology of infectious diseases, including HIV.

When Rep. Gene Green (D-TX) practiced as an attorney in Texas during the 1980s, some of his clients had become infected with tuberculosis that had become resistant to the first and best line of treatment. He had to talk to them through walls to avoid exposure to the disease, he said, often having to shout to be heard. He recounted his experience at a congressional briefing on the threat of antibiotic resistance in the U.S. on Tuesday.

A decade-long trend of diminished investment in medical research, exacerbated by budget-standoff driven “sequester” cuts are showing immediate and long term impacts: in stymieing promising studies, and in thwarting the development of the next generation of scientists, according to a brief from amfAR, the Foundation for AIDS Research and TAG, Treatment Action Group.

With the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief  facing a drop from fiscal year 2012 funding, the House Appropriations Committee added language from Rep. Barbara Lee to the funding bill it voted on today, requiring indicators to ensure that “country ownership” is pursued effectively and appropriately.

TAG and TB CAB sent letters to manufacturers of Quantiferon TB Gold and Immucheck TB Platinum expressing concerns that their tests, blood-based interferon gamma release assays indicated only for latent TB infection detection, are misleadingly marketed in India as tests for active TB.

The President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief  took a hit while the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria got a boost last week when the House and Senate passed a Continuing Resolution bill to avoid a government shutdown and continue funding the government through Oct. 1, the end of fiscal year 2013. The House voted 318-109 to approve a version of the resolution that was passed by the Senate earlier this month. For the first half of FY 2013, Congress had funded most federal programs at FY 2012 levels, with an end date of March 27.