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Control Strategies for Tuberculosis Epidemics: New Models for Old Problems

1996; American Association for the Advancement of Science; Volume: 273; Issue: 5274 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1126/science.273.5274.497

1095-9203

Sally Blower, Peter M. Small, Philip C. Hopewell,

Tuberculosis Research and Epidemiology

Tuberculosis, although preventable and curable, causes more adult deaths than any other infectious disease. A theoretical framework for designing effective control strategies is developed and used to determine treatment levels for eradication, to assess the effects of noneradicating control, and to examine the global goals of the World Health Organization. The theory is extended to assess how suboptimal control programs contribute to the evolution of drug resistance. A new evaluation criterion is defined and used to suggest how control strategies can be improved. In order to control tuberculosis, treatment failure rates must be lower in developing countries than in developed countries.