Tuberculosis in the 1980s

MEDICAL and social progress often alter the distribution and impact of a disease. There is perhaps no disease of which this is truer than tuberculosis. The "white plague" of centuries past has become a condition that is today not only treatable and curable, but preventable as well. Along with these major developments have come changes of a more subtle but no less important nature. Our purpose is to summarize some of these changes, place them in perspective, and point to still other innovations looming on the horizon. This review will deal with infection and disease caused by Mycobacterium tuberculosis . . . .