Abstract
Before streptomycin was discovered in 1945, outbreaks of tuberculosis (TB) were responsible for the destruction of the greatest number of people in history. During the 1960s, '70s and '80s, a continuous decline in the incidence of TB in the West created a feeling of complacency which led to the loss of vigilance and of clinical skill in diagnosing it; however, new outbreaks of TB have occurred in the last few years among aboriginals, drug addicts and patients with AIDS. Along with the rise of the incidence of the infection, the resistance of the TB bacilli to known antibiotics has reached alarming levels. Isolation and hospitalization of infected cases is being ordered in large North American cities; a careful search for contacts and close supervision for compliance during periods of treatment are imposed to avoid uncontrolled spread. The World Health Organization reports that a TB epidemic is sweeping through Eastern Europe as part of the global spread of AIDS. Thoracoplasty may have to be considered as a life saving measure for patients whose infection does not respond to any available antibiotic.
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