Tuberculosis 2013 Series

摘要

To coincide with World TB Day on March 24, 2013, we are publishing online a Series of six articles on tuberculosis, accompanied by -Comments. The Comments and first two articles in the Series appear in print in this issue, with the remaining papers to be published in the May and June issues.A Lancet letter from 1835 advocated the application of large quantities of topical lard for the treatment of "pulmonary consumption".1 At a time when death rates from tuberculosis in western Europe were around 1000 per 100000 population,2 any intervention was worth trying.