TY - JOUR T1 - The tuberculosis time bomb: taking control of the TB threat in Europe JF - European Respiratory Journal JO - Eur Respir J SP - 697 LP - 699 DO - 10.1183/09031936.00008314 VL - 43 IS - 3 AU - Tanja El-Nemr Y1 - 2014/03/01 UR - http://erj.ersjournals.com/content/43/3/697.abstract N2 - Tuberculosis (TB) has been described as the biggest killer in human history. Mycobacterium tuberculosis emerged over 70 000 years ago, and it has shared evolutionary paths with modern humans since their early migration out of Africa [1]. With the expansion of human populations and the emergence and change of livelihoods and lifestyles, M. tuberculosis evolved and diversified, and continues to do so today. The prognosis of TB patients before the advent of the antibiotic era was very bleak. In the 1900s, exacerbated by poor hygiene and housing conditions, TB was killing one out of every seven people in Europe and Americas [2]. In cities, it caused 40% of working class deaths. The identification of the tuberculosis bacillus in 1882 by Robert Koch represented a turning point that would be followed by the development of public health practices, vaccines and, in the 1940s and 1950s, antibiotics [3]. This led to the more effective treatment of TB, raising hopes that the disease would be defeated: the United Nations predicted the elimination of TB by the year 2025 [4]. Unfortunately, it seems … ER -