When Robert Koch presented his discovery of the tuberculosis bacillus in March, 1882, he hoped it would lead to the eradication of ‘this terrible plague of mankind’. More than a century later, tuberculosis remains a leading killer of adults: of about 9 ·4 million people newly infected with tuberculosis each year, 3 ·5 million are undiagnosed and continue to transmit the disease and more than 1 ·7 million die. Tuberculosis is the main killer of people with HIV infection; drug-resistant strains continue to spread; and paediatric tuberculosis remains an area of neglect. In the past decade, the number of new cases of tuberculosis worldwide has barely declined, and the number of deaths remains catastrophic: more than 4500 per day for this largely treatable disease. As aLancet editorial pointed out, ‘A status quo in tuberculosis control is unacceptable.’
Read more at the Lancet: http://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/issue/vol378no9801/PIIS0140-6736(11)X6043-9
