Multidrug-resistant tuberculosis: meeting the challenge.

Both public and private institutions are mobilizing to combat drug-resistant TB--indeed, to eliminate all TB. Meeting this goal will require a three-pronged approach: 1) prophylactic isoniazid treatment of latent TB, 2) multidrug (at least six agents in some cases) treatment of active TB to eradicate resistant strains, and 3) correction of the social conditions that have contributed to the current epidemic.