With 2.9 million and 1.7 million deaths in 2000, the HIV and Mycobacterium tuberculosis, respectively, again top the infamous WHO list of excess deaths caused by infectious agents (1; Fig. 1). To further worsen the situation, these two pathogens do not operate independently. More than half a million of those who died last year were already coinfected with both pathogens and more than 50 million individuals coinfected with HIV and M. tuberculosis envisage a similar fate in the upcoming years. One third of the total world population (2 billion people) is infected with M. tuberculosis and coinfection with HIV exacerbates the risk of developing active tuberculosis from 1 in 10 during lifetime to 1 in 10 during the year after HIV infection (2).
As long as the immune system remains competent, M. tuberculosis is normally held at bay, though...
