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Tuberculosis—Battling an Ancient Scourge
David Satcher, Md, PhD
JAMA. 1999;282:1996.
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Tuberculosis (TB) is a disease of antiquity. Hippocrates mentioned it in 460 BC as an "almost always fatal disease of the lungs." More than 2000 years later, it remains a global public health emergency. In 1997, an estimated 1.9 billion people worldwide had active TB, with 8 million new cases worldwide, and 1.9 million died of the disease (JAMA. 1999;282:677-686). The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that unless global control efforts are strengthened, between now and 2020, nearly 1 billion more people will be newly infected with Mycobacterium tuberculosis, 200 million will develop active disease, and 70 million will die from it. Currently, 80% of active TB cases are in 22 countries, primarily in Asia and Africa. Clearly, TB affects development in these regions, since disease rates are highest in adults of working age.
The HIV/AIDS pandemic is contributing substantially to the TB . . . [Full Text of this Article]
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