Multidrug-resistant tuberculosis--can the tide be turned?

Abstract

Despite continued control efforts, tuberculosis remains a leading cause of illness and death worldwide, with more cases today than at any previous time in history. Not only is there a global increase in the disease itself, there is a worrying rise in the number of cases resistant to the two principal antituberculosis drugs, isoniazid and rifampicin--so called multidrug resistance.