MUMBAI: The National Tuberculosis Institute (NTI) in Bangalore has validated Hinduja Hospital's January report about total drug resistance in eight TB patients.

The final results of the Phase I prime-boost AIDS (Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome) vaccine trial started in February 2009 and conducted at the two sites — Tuberculosis Research Centre (TRC), Chennai, and the National AIDS Research Institute (NARI), Pune — has shown that the vaccines are safe and their ability to elicit immune response are modest.

The state health department is baffled after it has found out that a large number of tuberculosis cases have gone undetected in the state over the past couple of years. This, senior officials said, could lead to several public health problems in the near future.