[Issues addressed by tuberculosis in France in 2003].

The incidence of tuberculosis in France has not declined since 4 years. In fact, there is a constant decline in the whole country but a slight increase in the Paris region. As in other big cities in the world, the recent increase in cases in Paris is mainly due to immigrants. In contrast, HIV coinfection accounts for a small and decreasing part of the cases. Moreover, the rates of resistance and multiresistance to antituberculous drugs are low and stable indicating that the treatment of active diseases is satisfactory. The respective part of cases due either to primary infections or to reactivations is unknown. In order to control tuberculosis in Paris, we need to implement better infection control policy with active screening of contacts of patients with active tuberculosis as well as treatment of latent tuberculosis infections.