title: Tuberculosis: a disease without boundaries.
abstract: Tuberculosis (TB) is an airborne disease caused by Mycobacterium tuberculosis (MTB) that usually affects the lungs leading to severe coughing, fever, and chest pains. Although current research in the past four years has provided valuable insight into TB transmission, diagnosis, and treatment, much remains to be discovered to effectively decrease the incidence of and eventually eradicate TB. The disease still puts a strain on public health, being only second to HIV/AIDS in causing high mortality rates. This review will highlight the history of TB as well as provide an overview of the current literature on epidemiology, pathogenesis and the immune response, treatment, and control of TB. In this race to combat a disease that knows no boundaries, it is necessary to have a conceptual and clear understanding of TB overall with the hope of providing better treatment through novel and collaborative research and public health efforts.
authors.affiliation: University of Toronto, St. George Campus, Victoria College, 95 Queen's Park Crescent, Toronto, Ontario, M5S 1K7 Canada. Electronic address: nicole.fogel@mail.utoronto.ca.
authors.forename: Nicole
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Fogel
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000995:Antitubercular Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D049672:History, 19th Century; D049673:History, 20th Century; D049674:History, 21st Century; D054884:Host-Pathogen Interactions; D006801:Humans; D019570:Inhalation Exposure; D008168:Lung / Q000187:drug effects / Q000276:immunology / Q000382:microbiology*; D009169:Mycobacterium tuberculosis / Q000187:drug effects / Q000276:immunology / Q000472:pathogenicity*; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests; D015995:Prevalence; D012307:Risk Factors; D016896:Treatment Outcome; D014397:Tuberculosis, Pulmonary / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000266:history / Q000382:microbiology* / Q000635:transmission
chemical_list: D000995:Antitubercular Agents
keywords: Animal models; BCG; Clinical manifestation; Control; DOTS; Epidemiology; HIV; History; IGRAs; Immunological response; LTBI; MDR; Mycobacterium tuberculosis; Stop TB Strategy; TST; Transmission; Treatment; Tuberculosis