Wasted youth and wan complexions found their way into countless 19th-century poems, paintings and novels. Today, there is no such glamorization. Worse still, the area poised to be hit hardest by the disease is Asia.
Several factors contribute to the danger in the region.
The first, perhaps ironically, is the widespread availability of medication. Tuberculosis sufferers in Asia have had access to common anti-TB drugs like isoniazid and rifampicin but have failed to take them properly or completely. This has allowed the organism responsible for TB, Mycobacterium tuberculosis, to mutate and build up resistance. Secondly, the region has several hundred urban centers, where overcrowding and the constant movement of people can lead to a rapid spread of the disease. The third factor is a familiar one.