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Rebecca Voelker

JAMA. 2008;300(5):491-492.

	Since this article does not have an abstract, we have provided the first 150 words of the full text and any section headings.

At a recent gathering of global health leaders at theUnited Nations (UN) headquarters in New York City, Margaret Chan, MD, described a chilling scenario. Chan, the Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO), told the group that drug-resistant forms of tuberculosis (TB) are on an increasingly deadly collision course with HIV infection.

"Earlier this year, WHO released a report indicating that multidrug-resistant TB has reached the highest levels ever recorded," said Chan. "Even more ominous is the emergence of extensively drug-resistant TB [XDR-TB], which is virtually impossible to treat." Chan said any further spread of XDR-TB would be a setback "of epic proportions" in global efforts to control the spread of TB and HIV.

"If we allow XDR-TB to spread," Chan said, "we are, in effect, going back to the pre-antibiotic era."

Medical experts warn that HIV infection and tuberculosis are synergistic conditions that heighten each other's morbidity . . . [Full Text of this Article]

SYNERGISTIC INFECTIONS



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