Disease model: pulmonary tuberculosis

In spite of a massive effort to apply the tools currently available for tuberculosis (TB) control, both in this country and abroad, it is clear that complicating factors [for example, HIV co-infection, drug resistance, lack of patient compliance with chemotherapy, variable efficacy of Bacille Calmette-Guerin (BCG) vaccine] will prevent disease control unless new drugs, vaccines and diagnostic tests are developed [1]. The publication of the complete genome sequence of Mycobacterium tuberculosis in 1998 [2] has facilitated a directed search for virulence genes, new drug targets, and vaccine antigens. This research effort has been made possible by the availability of highly biologically relevant animal models of pulmonary TB ( [3]).