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Translating basic science insight into public health action for multidrug‐ and extensively drug‐resistant tuberculosis
Author(s) -
WALTER NICHOLAS D.,
STRONG MICHAEL,
BELKNAP ROBERT,
ORDWAY DIANE J.,
DALEY CHARLES L.,
CHAN EDWARD D.
Publication year - 2012
Publication title -
respirology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.857
H-Index - 85
eISSN - 1440-1843
pISSN - 1323-7799
DOI - 10.1111/j.1440-1843.2012.02176.x
Subject(s) - tuberculosis , medicine , public health , mycobacterium tuberculosis , epidemiology , drug resistance , extensively drug resistant tuberculosis , multiple drug resistance , intensive care medicine , biology , genetics , pathology
Multidrug (MDR)‐ and extensively drug‐resistant (XDR) tuberculosis (TB) impose a heavy toll of human suffering and social costs. Controlling drug‐resistant TB is a complex global public health challenge. Basic science advances including elucidation of the genetic basis of resistance have enabled development of new assays that are transforming the diagnosis of MDR‐TB. Molecular epidemiological approaches have provided new insights into the natural history of TB with important implications for drug resistance. In the future, progress in understanding Mycobacterium tuberculosis strain‐specific human immune responses, integration of systems biology approaches with traditional epidemiology and insight into the biology of mycobacterial persistence have potential to be translated into new tools for diagnosis and treatment of MDR‐ and XDR‐TB. We review recent basic sciences developments that have contributed or may contribute to improved public health response.