The Lancet  
Jul 02, 2011  Volume 378  Number 9785  Pages 1 – 98
http://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/issue/current

Editorial
A new era for global tuberculosis control?
The Lancet
Preview
In this week’s Lancet we publish a Seminar on tuberculosis, a disease that remains a major cause of death worldwide. Although tuberculosis is curable and preventable, long treatment durations, multidrug-resistant strains, a deadly association with HIV, and an inextricable link with poverty all mean that the disease presents an enormous challenge for countries to tackle. Although there has been commendable progress in case detection and aversion of deaths by treatment, in recent years the rates of decline in tuberculosis incidence have not been falling fast enough to meet global targets.

Seminar
Tuberculosis
Stephen D Lawn, Alimuddin I Zumla
Preview
Tuberculosis results in an estimated 1·7 million deaths each year and the worldwide number of new cases (more than 9 million) is higher than at any other time in history. 22 low-income and middle-income countries account for more than 80% of the active cases in the world. Due to the devastating effect of HIV on susceptibility to tuberculosis, sub-Saharan Africa has been disproportionately affected and accounts for four of every five cases of HIV-associated tuberculosis. In many regions highly endemic for tuberculosis, diagnosis continues to rely on century-old sputum microscopy; there is no vaccine with adequate effectiveness and tuberculosis treatment regimens are protracted and have a risk of toxic effects.