For men and women alike, the causes of this chronic morbidity include above all cardiovascular diseases, diseases of the muscular and skeletal systems and rheumatic diseases as well as diseases of the digestive system, of the urogenital system and various allergies.

Compare this with antibiotic treatment of, say, a urogenital infection, which lasts a few weeks at most. As a result, compliance with TB drug treatment is particularly weak, paving the way for the emergence of multidrug resistant (MDR) TB, which can no longer be treated by conventional therapeutic regimes.