The United States has given Vietnam new equipment to help speed up the diagnosis of a drug resistant strain of tuberculosis.

The U.S. Agency for International Development says it delivered the first two of 17 planned laboratory devices to test for the disease Monday.

It says the machines allow for technicians to diagnose multi-drug resistant tuberculosis within as little as two hours, instead of the previous time requirement of several months.

The multi-drug resistant strain of tuberculosis does not respond to the more common antibiotic drugs prescribed for typical tuberculosis cases.

These new lab devices, along with 12,000 testing cartridges, will be given to tuberculosis hospitals and clinics in more than 10 Vietnamese provinces.