Africa is facing the worst tuberculosis epidemic since the adventof the antibiotic era. Driven by a generalized human immunodeficiencyvirus (HIV) epidemic and compounded by weak health care systems,inadequate laboratories, and conditions that promote transmissionof infection, this devastating situation has steadily worsened,exacerbated by the emergence of drug-resistant strains of tuberculosis.
Africa, home to 11% of the world's population, carries 29% ofthe global burden of tuberculosis cases and 34% of related deaths,and the challenges of controlling the disease in the regionhave never been greater. The World Health Organization (WHO)estimates that the average incidence . . . [Full Text of this Article]
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Dr. Chaisson is the director of the Center for Tuberculosis Research at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore. Dr. Martinson is the deputy director of the Perinatal HIV Research Unit, University of the Witwatersrand, Soweto, South Africa.
A slide presentation on tuberculosis and HIV in Africa may be seen at www.nejm.org.
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