An Epidemic of Drug Resistance: Tuberculosis in the Twenty-First Century
Authors
Jens Seeberg
Department of Anthropology, Aarhus University, 8270 Hoejbjerg, Denmark; [email protected]
Keywords:
tuberculosis, biosocial, global health, antimicrobial resistance
Abstract
With an estimated two billion people being carriers of latent tuberculosis infection (LTBI), the gains achieved by increasing access to diagnostics and treatment, although substantial, have had a modest impact on the global burden of tuberculosis (TB). At the same time, increased access to treatment has had the unintended consequence that drug-resistant TB (DR-TB) has increased dramatically. Earlier TB control strategies strongly emphasizing medical treatment have failed to address these issues effectively. The current strategy to eliminate TB by 2050 is accompanied by a call for a paradigm shift, emphasizing patient rights and equity more. Based on ethnographic fieldwork in Odisha, India, and global-level TB conferences, this paper contrasts the dynamics of global health policy and strategy-making with the lived realities of patients with DR-TB. A more thorough rethinking of the biosocial dynamics that impact the pathogenic disease is required to develop a comprehensive paradigm shift for TB control in the twenty-first century.
Keywords: tuberculosis, biosocial, global health, antimicrobial resistance
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