The Tuberculosis Index

Rank of TB among the world's single infectious disease killers: 1

Number of TB patients worldwide who die each day: 8,000

Estimate by TB researchers on cost of developing a TB vaccine per year: $40 million

Estimated cost of a B-2 bomber (which the Pentagon does not want): $2 billion

Number of years of TB vaccine development one B-2 bomber would buy: 50

Average cost of a course of TB treatment in the developed world: $2,500

Average cost of complete treatment for multi-drug resistant TB in the developed world: $250,000

Number of people to which one infectious TB patient spreads the disease: 10-15

Cost of medicines to treat one patient through directly observed therapy (DOT) in the developing world: $11- $40

Amount saved by DOT in South Africa over 10 years, by preventing additional TB cases: $500 million

One-time investment needed to establish basic TB control programs in Russia: $100 million

Percentage of Warren Buffet's estimated net worth that would pay for this investment: 0.004

Percentage of AIDS deaths in Africa and Asia in which TB is the primary cause: 40

Number of additional TB cases annually due to HIV infection worldwide: 1.4 million

1998 NIH TB research spending per new case, worldwide: $4.62

1998 NIH Ebola research spending per new case, worldwide: $5,606.06

Funding allocated in this year's budget for military programs not requested by the Pentagon: $1.23 billion

Number of TB patients in India that this money could treat: 1.1 million

Amount of U.S. national defense spending, FY 1998: $267.5 billion

Amount of U.S. foreign development assistance, 1997: $6.2 billion

Rank of U.S among 21 developed nations for percentage of GNP spent on development assistance: 21

Percentage of U.S. GNP that is spent on development assistance: 0.08

Percentage of U.S. budget Americans feel should be spent on foreign aid: 15

Percentage of U.S budget that was actually spent on foreign aid in 1998: 1

Worldwide estimated deaths per year from TB: 3 million

Worldwide estimated deaths per year from TB by the year 2004, if nothing changes: 4 million

Source: Princeton Project 55, Inc. Tuberculosis Initiative
April 1999