Tuberculosis (TB) is a major public health problem. Worldwide, over 2 billion people have latent tuberculosis infections; 8 million people contract the disease annually;
2 million die yearly, more than die from malaria or other infectious diseases. The world wide HIV epidemic has lead to a devastating rise in TB cases, particularly in Africa and Asia. Current estimates are that there are approximately 12 million persons living with HIV-TB coinfection.
In the United States, tuberculosis was thought to be under control as the result of aggressive use of antimicrobials and case control programs. Nonetheless, an estimated 10 million to 15 million U.S. residents have latent infections, especially recent immigrants. Further, there is an increasing incidence of tuberculosis in inner cities associated with poverty, drug addiction, AIDS and imprisonment - a growing phenomenon in cities throughout the Western world. Most troubling, there is also an increasing incidence of infections caused by organisms that are resistant to available drugs - 15% to 20% of newly diagnosed cases throughout the world.
Almost everyone in the United States is susceptible to tuberculosis, which is spread by the inhalation of infectious particles from the sputum of actively diseased individuals. Innate resistance is very low and there is no effective method of immunization in wide use. Despite this rather alarming situation, no new class of drugs for the treatment of tuberculosis has been introduced since the mid-1960s.
*For a complete exposition of the global burden of TB and the market for Anti-TB drugs see "The Economics of TB Drug Development" by the Global Alliance for TB Drug Development, October, 2001. The Global Alliance for TB Drug Development has its offices at:
59 John Street, Suite 800
New York, New York 10038
212-227-7540
212-227-7541 (FAX)
and
27 Boulevard Bischoffsheim
B-1000 Brussels, Belgium
32 2 210 02 20
32 2 223 6938 (FAX)
