Epidemiological Burden of Tuberculosis in Developing Countries

Tuberculosis (TB) is an infectious disease caused by different species of the genus Mycobacte‐ ria. Together with human immunodeficiency virus infection (HIV)/Acquired Immunodefi‐ ciency Syndrome (AIDS) and malaria, tuberculosis is one of the biggest killers in the Word (Rodriguez-Morales AJ et al 2008, Murcia-Aranguren MI et al 2001). Human disease is usu‐ ally caused by Mycobacterium tuberculosis, also know as the Koch’s bacilli (Figure 1), which can affect any organ or tissue in the body, and in some cases due to M. bovis (CastanedaHernandez DM & Rodriguez-Morales AJ 2012a). Although this, pulmonary disease, with their particular hallmarks such as occurrence of cough with expectoration lasting more than 15 days, is the main corporal area affected by this mainly tropical pathogen (Rodriguez-Mo‐ rales AJ et al 2008; Castaneda-Hernandez DM & Rodriguez-Morales AJ 2012). In such cases, previous to a microbiological diagnosis, individuals in such state are so-called respiratory symptomatic.