The Global Burden of Tuberculosis — Combating Drug Resistance in Difficult Times

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Abstract
According to the 13th annual tuberculosis report of the World Health Organization (WHO) — published on World TB Day, March 24, 2009 — there were an estimated 9.27 million new cases of tuberculosis worldwide in 2007 (see interactive graphic).1 Although this figure represents an increase from 9.24 million in 2006, the world population has also grown, making the number of cases per capita a more useful measure of the problem; this figure peaked in 2004 at 142 per 100,000 and fell to 139 per 100,000 in 2007. An estimated 1.32 million people who were not infected with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) died of tuberculosis in 2007, as did an estimated 456,000 people who were HIV-positive. Prevalence and mortality rates appear to be falling in all six WHO regions. Thus, the Americas, the eastern Mediterranean, and Southeast Asia appear likely to meet the Millennium Development Goals target, set in conjunction with the Stop TB Partnership and the World Health Assembly, of halving tuberculosis prevalence and tuberculosis-related mortality between 1990 and 2015. This target will probably not be met by the African and European regions. Nevertheless, do the new statistics, at last, represent the turn of the tuberculosis tide and provide reason for cautious optimism?

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