Contents

Disclaimer

Oxford University Press makes no representation, express or implied, that the drug dosages in this book are correct. Readers must therefore always check the product information and clinical procedures with the most up to date published product information and data sheets provided by the manufacturers and the most recent codes of conduct and safety regulations. The authors and the publishers do not accept responsibility or legal liability for any errors in the text or for the misuse or misapplication of material in this work. Except where otherwise stated, drug dosages and recommendations are for the non-pregnant adult who is not breastfeeding.

Show Summary Details
Page of

Tuberculosis 

Tuberculosis
Chapter:
Tuberculosis
Author(s):

Dermot Maher

, Marcos Espinal

, and Mario Raviglione

DOI:
10.1093/med/9780199218707.003.0071
Page of

PRINTED FROM OXFORD MEDICINE ONLINE (www.oxfordmedicine.com). © Oxford University Press, 2022. All Rights Reserved. Under the terms of the licence agreement, an individual user may print out a PDF of a single chapter of a title in Oxford Medicine Online for personal use (for details see Privacy Policy and Legal Notice).

date: 16 May 2022

We begin the chapter by describing the natural history of Mycobacterium tuberculosis infection. This underpins our understanding of tuberculosis epidemiology and the principles of tuberculosis control, for which the main stratagems are then briefly discussed. We continue with an historical account of the global tuberculosis epidemic as the necessary background to a description of the current burden of tuberculosis and recent trends. A brief account of tuberculosis control in the era of anti-tuberculosis chemotherapy serves as the backdrop to the development and implementation of the World Health Organization (WHO) strategy for tuberculosis control known as DOTS (a brand name derived from Directly Observed Treatment, Short-Course) and its adaptations. The next section reviews the basic principles in tuberculosis care which underpin the public health approach to tuberculosis control. We provide an assessment of the progress made towards the international targets for tuberculosis control for 2005, and then outline recent events in the evolving international response to the challenge of tuberculosis, including the development of the Stop TB Strategy and the Global Plan to implement it. We conclude with an assessment of the prospects for tuberculosis control in the future, looking forward to 2015 (the target year for the United Nations’ Millennium Development Goals) and then beyond to 2050 (the target year for the elimination of tuberculosis as a global public health problem).

Access to the complete content on Oxford Medicine Online requires a subscription or purchase. Public users are able to search the site and view the abstracts for each book and chapter without a subscription.

Please subscribe or login to access full text content.

If you have purchased a print title that contains an access token, please see the token for information about how to register your code.

For questions on access or troubleshooting, please check our FAQs, and if you can't find the answer there, please contact us.