Sometimes events happen that shake people up a bit, to the reality that disease has no borders. Such has happened recently, in the case of Andrew Speaker, the individual diagnosed with extensively drug resistant (XDR) tuberculosis. Speaker drew attention to himself due not only because of the rarity of his highly drug resistant strain of tuberculosis (XDR), but also for his disregard for others as he traveled by plane back to North America.

Bacteria have been evolving for billions of years, so it should not be surprising to us that they continue to evolve in modern times. The same selective forces that have helped bacteria adapt to particular niches and environments are now enabling bacteria to become resistant to drugs and antibiotics at a disturbing rate. Add to that, the challenge, cost, and time involved in identifying new drugs and new drug targets, and this problem becomes even more worrisome.

Such cases have emphasized the need to develop faster and better methods to identify new and more effective drugs, alternative strategies to fight bacterial and viral diseases, and better vaccine platforms. In some cases we must rethink traditional methods of fighting disease if we really want to keep up with the readily evolving drug resistant strains.

Presently, more than 2 million people die from tuberculosis each year. Many of these cases are in countries where they do not have adequate access to costly drugs. I hope in the coming years that academic labs, biotech companies, and pharmaceutical companies can pull together to work toward better solutions for combating disease at home and abroad. At home, the challenge will be to deal with emerging multi-drug resistant strains, and abroad the challenge will be to make drugs cheap enough so that all who need these drugs will get them, no matter the economic background. These are worldwide problems that need worldwide solutions.