Tuberculosis: Annual update

More people died from tuberculosis (TB) in 1995 than in any other year in history; a depressing statistic considering that agents with potent antimycobacterial activity have been widely available for over 40 years. Factors such as the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) pandemic and the emergence of multi-drug resistant strains of Mycobacterium tuberculosis contribute to the ever-increasing number of TB sufferers worldwide. Progress is being made in the development of tools with which to analyse and manipulate the genome of M. tuberculosis, in the search for novel TB drugs and in identifying vaccine candidates. Of particular significance has been the successful application of relatively new techniques utilising naked DNA vaccination to provide protection against M. tuberculosis infection.