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Joan Stephenson, PhD

JAMA. 2008;299(15):1764.

	Since this article does not have an abstract, we have provided the first 150 words of the full text and any section headings.

Progress in detecting tuberculosis (TB) and curbing the global epidemic has slowed, according to a report based on government data from 202 countries and regions, released last month by the World Health Organization (http://www.who.int/tb/publications/global_report/2008/en/index.html).

The report, Global Tuberculosis Control 2008, identified HIV/TB coinfection, which is exacerbating the TB epidemic in Africa and elsewhere, and multidrug-resistant TB (MDR-TB) as potential barriers to further progress in controlling TB.

About 700 000 of the estimated 9.2 million new TB cases in 2006 occurred among individuals living with HIV, according to the report. Moreover, findings reported in February from the largest survey to date on the scope of TB drug resistance revealed that rates of MDR-TB were at an all-time high (http://www.who.int/entity/tb/publications/2008/drs_report4_26feb08.pdf). About 5% of TB cases were caused by MDR-TB (strains that are resistant to the 2 main first-line drugs); in some regions of the former . . . [Full Text of this Article]