New research indicates that curcumin--a substance in turmeric that is best known as one of the main components of curry powder—could be a new tool in helping fight drug-resistant tuberculosis.

Anti-tuberculosis (TB) drug resistance is a major public health problem that threatens progress made in TB care and control worldwide.

In Asia, turmeric is used to treat many health conditions and it has anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, and perhaps even anticancer properties.

Investigators found that by stimulating human immune cells called macrophages, curcumin was able to successfully remove Mycobacterium tuberculosis, the bacterium that causes TB, from experimentally infected cells in culture.

The ability of curcumin to modulate the immune response to Mycobacterium tuberculosis points to a potential new tuberculosis treatment that would be less prone to the development of drug resistance.

Although rare in the U.S. anti- tuberculosis (TB) drug resistance is a major public health problem that threatens progress made in TB care and control worldwide.

Also, health officials here voiced concern Thursday because the rate of non-drug resistant TB, which had been steadily declining here for years, rose slightly last year. This was the first increase since 1992, officials from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention say.