Revisiting and redefining the standards in tuberculosis imaging

Excerpt

Tuberculosis is a global health concern, particularly in Asia, Africa, Latin America and Eastern Europe. In 2015 alone, an estimated 10.4 million people developed tuberculosis worldwide, 11% of whom had human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) coinfection [1]. At least 1 million children fall ill with tuberculosis each year, representing about 11% of all tuberculosis cases [1, 2]. Researchers estimate that 67 million children are infected with tuberculosis (latent tuberculosis) and are therefore at risk of developing tuberculous disease [2]. An estimated 1.4 million people died from tuberculosis in 2015, approximately 210,000 of whom were children [2], making tuberculosis one of the top 10 causes of death worldwide [1]. During the World Health Organization’s campaign for treatment programs, information dissemination and research initiatives, global tuberculosis prevalence fell by 42% and tuberculosis mortality rate by 47% between 1990 and 2015 [3]. Despite this, the worldwide tuberculosis burden remains enormous. HIV coinfection is also on the rise along with associated complications. Multidrug-resistant tuberculosis has emerged as a new face of the disease impacting the epidemiology and posing a major threat in tuberculosis control. In 2015, there were an estimated 480,000 new cases of multidrug-resistant tuberculosis [1]. …