TB or not TB? The perennial question
- The Pearl and Samuel J Kimura Ocular Immunology Laboratory, The Francis I Proctor Foundation and the Department of Ophthalmology, UCSF, Medical Center, San Francisco, California, USA
- Aravind Eye Hospital and Postgraduate Institute of Ophthalmology, Madurai, Tamil Nadu, India
- The Pearl and Samuel J Kimura Ocular Immunology Laboratory, The Francis I Proctor Foundation and the Department of Ophthalmology, UCSF, Medical Center, San Francisco, California, USA
- Aravind Eye Hospital and Postgraduate Institute of Ophthalmology, Madurai, Tamil Nadu, India
- Dr Emmett T Cunningham, Jr, The Pearl and Samuel J Kimura Ocular Immunology Laboratory The Francis I Proctor Foundation, UCSF, Medical Center, San Francisco, CA 94143–0944, USAemmett{at}itsa.ucsf.edu
Tuberculosis is the leading infectious cause of morbidity and mortality worldwide.12 The World Health Organization (WHO) currently estimates that nearly two billion people, or one third of the world's population, are infected by tuberculosis, and that roughly 10% of these infected people will develop clinical disease at some point during their lifetime. This enormous pool of infected individuals results in 8–10 million new cases of tuberculosis and nearly three million deaths due to infection each year. Countries in the developing world, particularly in Africa and South East Asia, bear the brunt of the burden, with more than 95% of new infections and 98% of infection related deaths occurring in these regions. The situation is made even more difficult by the growing human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) epidemic, since simultaneous infection by HIV greatly increases the risk of developing …
