Abstract

Throughout history, tuberculosis (TB) has claimed many famous victims, including John Keats and Doc Holliday. Today, approximately one-third of the world's population harbors Mycobacterium tuberculosis, the bacterium that causes TB. Otherwise healthy people can live for decades with TB infections without becoming sick. Only when symptoms, such as a persistent, hacking cough, appear does the disease spread to others who live in close proximity with the sufferer. In 2009, TB killed an estimated 1.7 million people across the globe, according to the World Health Organization.