Tuberculosis in Malta in the 21st century

Abstract

The World Health Organisation dedicated the 24th of March 1996 as World TB Day in a bid to promote its publicity campaign aimed at increasing awareness of the deteriorating situation as regards the treatment and control of tuberculosis. Today’s world population is about 5,700 million and TB is by far the major cause of death from infectious disease in persons over five years old. WHO estimates that one third of the world’s population, that is, about 1,900 million are already infected and we know that approximately 10% of these will develop the disease. The real concern, however, is that current drugs may become useless. Indeed, it is estimated that more than 50 million people are infected with drug-resistant strains. On a global scale, the main cause of drug resistance is poorly managed TB control programs.