Tuberculosisology

Author: Yan Biya
Publisher:
Publishing Date: 2003-04-01
Features: In the 20th century, the incidence of tuberculosis globally experienced three surges. The first two occurred during the two World Wars in the first half of the century, as the wars brought disasters to humanity while also leading to an increase in tuberculosis cases. The third surge, which continues to this day since the mid-1980s, is primarily due to: large-scale immigration from tuberculosis-endemic regions; the fatal combination of TB and HIV; the development of multidrug-resistant tuberculosis; and insufficient attention paid by many countries and government officials to tuberculosis. In the last two decades of the 20th century, China conducted four tuberculosis epidemiological sampling surveys (1979, 1984–1985, 1990, 2000). The surveys revealed that the development of tuberculosis prevalence across provinces (municipalities, autonomous regions) was highly uneven, and the national tuberculosis epidemic declined slowly. In the 1990s, China also faced the same factors that contributed to the resurgence of tuberculosis incidence worldwide. In 1991 and 1993, 28 provinces in China (excluding Beijing and Shanghai) implemented the World Bank-funded China Tuberculosis Control Project and the Ministry of Health's Strengthening and Promoting Tuberculosis Control Project. The implementation of these two major projects marked a new historical phase in China's tuberculosis control efforts. Through the relentless efforts of researchers across different eras in the fight against tuberculosis, numerous research topics and academic works within the field have been continuously summarized, improved, and refined. Large-scale academic works and teaching reference books, such as Tuberculosis, are no exception. Tuberculosis (edited by Fan Bingzhe and Qiu Zuyuan and published by the Beijing Tuberculosis Research Institute in 1964) was an important specialized reference book for the medical community, tuberculosis prevention field, and medical universities at the time. However, over the past 30 years, with the continuous advancement of science and technology, the field of tuberculosis has made significant progress in clinical diagnosis and treatment, bacterial immunology, chemotherapy research and development, epidemiology and prevention, especially in molecular biology techniques. In light of this, the editor-in-chief invited 85 relevant experts to revise and compile a new edition of Tuberculosis. Most of the contributors are professionals who have dedicated decades to clinical, teaching, or research work in this field, and many of them are highly accomplished academically with numerous research achievements. Tuberculosis (New Edition) is rich in content and detailed in data. When writing each chapter, the authors have strived to reflect the latest theories, perspectives, insights, and methods from both domestic and international research, as well as to embody the academic standards of the 1990s in China and abroad. The text extensively cites recent scientific results, detection techniques, implementation methods, and literature from China's tuberculosis field. During the compilation process, each chapter was reviewed and commented on by two senior experts before being submitted to an expanded review meeting involving the editor-in-chief, editorial committee members, and authors. At this meeting, in-depth discussions were held on the content, theoretical or academic viewpoints, structure, and literature of relevant chapters, and revised suggestions were proposed to the authors to further enhance the academic level and refine the content of each chapter. This scientific, pragmatic, and responsible approach is commendable. We hope that this book will serve as a trusted guide and companion for medical professionals in the diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of tuberculosis.