**2. Tuberculosis facts information and treatment research**

Most of the selected sites presented in this section have information about several aspects of TB, like history, epidemiology, transmission and pathogenesis, diagnosis, treatment, infection control, besides offering other services such as courses, guidelines, fact sheets and links to related sites. We have chosen an alphabetical classification to avoid conveying a false impres‐ sion of importance to some sites in detriment of others. In fact, we think that every effort is worthy in this global battle against this terrible disease.

**Centers for Disease Control and Prevention**. The mission of the Division of Tuberculosis Elimination (DTBE) is to promote health and quality of life by preventing, controlling, and eventually eliminating tuberculosis from the United States, and by collaborating with other countries and international partners in controlling global tuberculosis. URL: <http:// www.cdc.gov/tb/>

**Global Tuberculosis Institute**. Located at the New Jersey Medical School, the institute provides expertise in program development, education, training and research to ministers of health, national TB programs and healthcare providers around the globe. URL: <http:// www.umdnj.edu/globaltb/home.htm>

of the Internet: today, it is possible to travel from one side of the world to the other in just one day. Unfortunately, this has presented us a negative side: infectious agents may also cross the

Tuberculosis is a global disease, with an estimated one-third of all people in the world contaminated by the bacillus, *Mycobacterium tuberculosis*. Although treatable, the large period of treatment (many abandon the therapy as soon as they feel better) together with the indis‐ criminate use of antibiotics is causing the spread of new, drug-resistant strains. Actually, as those familiar with epidemiology have already noticed, that is a remarkable similarity between the patterns of an epidemic or outbreak with the spread of a new piece of information

However, there has also been a revolution in other areas: new high-throughput technologies, like genomics, transcriptomics and proteomics, offer a new, more integrated view of the metabolism and genetics of the organism studied, and of course *M. tuberculosis* was among the first to have its genome sequenced. Today, more than 30 different strains have been sequenced, as well as other organisms from the *Mycobacterium* genus. By comparing the genomes of virulent and non-virulent strains of TB, scientists may pinpoint particular genes and/or polymorphisms involved in this process; by examining transcriptome data, researchers may

The purpose of this chapter is by no means to offer an exhaustive list of all the resources available on the Internet about TB, the topic of this book. This would be a massive and perhaps futile work, since the evolution of the internet occurs at a very fast pace. Rather, this chapter concentrates on a selection of the most important, relevant and stable websites with relevance to several aspects of TB, such as research, treatment, main Institutions, funding, and special‐ ized platforms. We think this should complement all the other information already presented in this book, offering the reader a more integrated view of the disease, and also access to new platforms and systems specialized in the analysis of data generated by a series of new

Most of the selected sites presented in this section have information about several aspects of TB, like history, epidemiology, transmission and pathogenesis, diagnosis, treatment, infection control, besides offering other services such as courses, guidelines, fact sheets and links to related sites. We have chosen an alphabetical classification to avoid conveying a false impres‐ sion of importance to some sites in detriment of others. In fact, we think that every effort is

**Centers for Disease Control and Prevention**. The mission of the Division of Tuberculosis Elimination (DTBE) is to promote health and quality of life by preventing, controlling, and eventually eliminating tuberculosis from the United States, and by collaborating with other countries and international partners in controlling global tuberculosis. URL: <http://

have an idea of the effects of a given drug in the bacillus' metabolism.

**2. Tuberculosis facts information and treatment research**

worthy in this global battle against this terrible disease.

world in just about the same time.

360 Tuberculosis - Current Issues in Diagnosis and Management

technologies such as DNA sequencing.

www.cdc.gov/tb/>

throughout the internet.


**Table 1.** Additional websites covering tuberculosis facts information and treatment research

**Pan American Health Organization (PAHO)**. Serving as the regional office for WHO, PAHO has been working for more than one century to improve health and the living standards of the countries of the Americas, being recognized as part of the United Nations' system. URL: <http://new.paho.org/hq/>

circumstances, the authors and curators of such resources receive little or no remuneration for their productive efforts, and the access to financial support for creation and maintenance of

Web Resources on TB: Information, Research, and Data Analysis

http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/53949

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In this section we present the main web resources fully or partially dedicated to mycobacterial species with relevance for readers interested in TB. Each database or platform, categorized according to its purpose and functionality, is quickly reviewed, and references to the original paper describing it, as well as its electronic site, are provided, serving as a guideline for researches or students working on TB. Notably, the computational resources presented here are all publicly available as online services and can potentially be applied to the identification of new drug targets, vaccine antigens, or diagnostics for TB, among many others applications.

**MyBASE**. The Mycobacterial Database [1] is an integrated platform for functional and evolutionary genomic study of the genus *Mycobacterium*, comprising extensive literature review and data annotation on mycobacterial genome polymorphism, virulence factors, and

**TBDB**. The TB Database [2] provides a comprehensive genomic data repository for *M. tuberculosis* and related bacteria, combining (*in silico*) genome sequence and annotation data and (experimental) gene-expression data. It also provides an analysis platform with suitable computational tools to assist (comparative) genomic and gene-expression studies of these microorganisms. Annotated features of genes and genomes, predicted orthologous groups, operons and synteny blocks, as well as predicted and curated immunological epitopes and

**The MycoBrowser portal**. The Mycobacterial Browser portal [3] is an extensive genomic and proteomic data repository for four related mycobacteria: *M. tuberculosis* H37Rv, *M. leprae* TN, *M. marinum* M, and *M. smegmatis* MC2. The system provides *in silico* generated and manually reviewed information on the complete genome sequence of these organisms. As part of this portal, the **TubercuList** database [4] integrates a range of information on the *M. tuberculosis* genome, such as genomic and protein annotations and features, drug and transcriptome data, mutant and operon annotation, and comparative genomics. It represents a complete redesign of the database with the same name provided by the GenoList genome browser (also described

**TubercuList**, **BoviList**, **BCGList**. The GenoList [5] is a collection of databases dedicated to microbial genome analysis, providing a complete data set of protein and nucleotide sequences for selected species, as well as annotation and functional classification of these sequences. The TubercuList, BoviList, and BCGList databases are devoted to collect and integrate various aspects of the genomic information of *M. tuberculosis* H37Rv, *M. bovis* AF2122/97, and *M.*

*bovis* BCG Pasteur 1173P2, respectively. URL: <http://genolist.pasteur.fr/>

biological databases is still a difficult task.

**3.1. Generic and multifunctional**

essential genes. URL: <http://mybase.psych.ac.cn/>

in this chapter). URL: <http://mycobrowser.epfl.ch/>

**3.2. Genomic mapping and data mining**

gene-expression patterns are available. URL: <http://www.tbdb.org/>

**StopTB Partnership**. The StopTb Partnership operates through a secretariat hosted by the World Health Organization (WHO) in Geneva, Switzerland, and seven working groups whose role is to accelerate progress on access to TB diagnosis and treatment, research and develop‐ ment for new TB diagnostics, drugs and vaccines, and tackling drug resistant- and HIVassociated TB. URL: <http://www.stoptb.org/>

**Tb Alliance**. Established in the year 2000, its main objective is to discover and develop better, faster-acting, and affordable drugs to fight tuberculosis. Today, the organization and its partners manage a portfolio of new anti-Tb drugs. URL: <http://www.tballiance.org>

**World Health Organization (WHO)**. Created in 1948, WHO is the directing and coordinating authority in international health within the United Nations' system, composed of 193 countries and two associate members. It supports and promotes health research in several areas, Tb being one of them. URL: <http://who.int/topics/tuberculosis/en/>
