Tuberculosis Timebomb a Global Emergency : Need for Alternative Vaccines

Abstract

Tuberculosis (TB) also known as white plague is a major infectious disease and a global emergency. It is one of the oldest recorded human afflictions and still continues to cause widespread morbidity and mortality in children and adults worldwide, despite the extensive use of a live attenuated vaccine and several antibiotics. One third of the world’s population is already infected and about 3 million people die and 8 million people develop the active disease each year. In the last decade there is a sharp rise in the cases of TB mainly due to emergence of multi-drug resistant (MTD), extensively drug-resistant (XDR) and totally drugresistant (TDR) strains of Mycobacterium Tuberculosis, which are virtually untreatable.