The emergence of multidrug-resistant tuberculosis (MDRTB) threatens TB control programs worldwide. Outbreaks of MDRTB in the United States grabbed the attention of the medical community and the general public, and subsequent surveys have found hot spots of MDRTB in low- and middle-income countries on four continents. Contributions from experts provide detailed descriptions, causes, molecular biology, laboratory diagnosis, treatment, prevention, and public health aspects of this disease. It gives an authorative overview of MDRTB and should be a useful reference book for clinicians, scientists...

Multidrug-resistant tuberculosis: past, present and future Ivan Bastian and Franyoise Portaels Mycobacteriology Unit. Institute of Tropical Medicine. Antwerp. Belgium The Lord hath created medicines out of the earth and he that is wise will not abhor them. Ecclesiasticus 38:4, quoted by Selman Waksman when accepting the 1952 Nobel Prize for Medicine that was awarded for the discovery of the first effective antituberculosis drug. streptomycin. which was derived from the soil bacterium, Streptomyces grisells. 1. HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE This book has been published at the close of the twentieth...