Grant: CIHR Café Scientifique Program

Tuberculosis (TB) has afflicted mankind for millennia, earning a number of aliases, such as consumption, phthisis and 'The White Plague'. Historical and modern data attest to TB as a barometer of social conditions - where TB rates are dropping, life expectancy has increased; sadly, in countries with rising rates of TB, there has been an associated decline in life expectancy. Currently, TB is the number one cause of death globally for a treatable disease. TB rates vary tremendously, both between countries and within countries. The highest incidence in the world is seen in sub-Saharan Africa, where TB and HIV/AIDS conspire in an evil synergy, each epidemic serving to amplify the other. Within Canada, the highest incidence is seen in the communities of Nunavut and Nunavik, for reasons that are incompletely understood. Research at McGill University aims to understand the triad of factors that affect rates of TB and outcomes of TB control programmes, namely host factors, bacterial determinants and the environment where the host encounters the pathogen. In this café scientifique, investigators with expertise spanning the 4 pillars of CIHR research shall describe the global and local epidemiology, the importance of bacterial and host genetic variability for the development of disease and the potential impact of novel advances that are being deployed to combat this epidemic.