Reflections on the white plague.

Tuberculosis continues to be one of the leading causes of morbidity and mortality from infectious disease worldwide. When WHO declared tuberculosis a global emergency in 1993, the initial response from the international community was sluggish and inadequate. A resurgence of the disease, the emergence of multidrug-resistant and extensively drug-resistant strains, and the detrimental effect of the concurrent tuberculosis and HIV/AIDS epidemics on national control programmes in sub-Saharan Africa have all occurred despite the availability of effective combination treatment regimens.