FRIDAY, Aug. 1 (HealthDay News) -- Standard methods of treating tuberculosis are failing in countries with high rates of multi-drug resistant (MDR) forms of the disease, say researchers who analyzed World Health Organization data from 2003 to 2004 for 155 countries.

In countries with high rates of MDR-TB, patients are nearly twice as likely to fail their initial treatment than patients in countries with low rates of MDR-TB -- 21.4 percent vs. 11.9 percent. The findings suggest that current TB treatment regimens need to be updated and revised, the study authors said.

TUESDAY, July 1 (HealthDay News) -- The United States has one of the highest lifetime rates of tobacco and alcohol use and the highest percentage of people who reported using marijuana or cocaine at least once in their lives, a new survey shows.

Researchers from the World Health Organization analyzed alcohol, tobacco and illegal drug use in 17 countries in the Americas, Europe, Asia, the Middle East, Africa and Oceania.

Among the major findings: