Approximately 2 billion people (one-third of the world's population) are
infected with Mycobacterium tuberculosis, the cause of TB. TB is the cause of
death for one out of every three people with AIDS worldwide.
WHO has declared that TB is a global emergency, because TB is out of control in
many parts of the world. The spread of the HIV epidemic has had a significant
impact on the TB epidemic; one-third of the increase in TB cases over the last
5 years can be attributed to the HIV epidemic (Source: UNAIDS). According to
WHO reports, HIV is the main reason for failure to meet Tuberculosis (TB)
control targets in high HIV settings.. Sub-Saharan Africa endures the most of
the HIV fuelled TB epidemic. The rapidly increasing HIV epidemic in other parts
of the world could also increase the number of HIV-related TB cases. By
the end of 2000, about 11.5 million HIV-infected people worldwide were
coinfected with M. tuberculosis. Seventy percent of coinfected people were in
sub-Saharan Africa, 20% in South-East Asia and 4% in Latin America and the
Caribbean. This data is giving the impression that the combination of the two
lethal infections is an African disease
