When it comes to tuberculosis, many people believe that it has been eliminated. In fact, this ancient disease has never been far away from human society. At present, what is the prevalence of tuberculosis in China? How far are we from ending tuberculosis? What are the difficulties in curbing tuberculosis? To this end, our reporter interviewed Li Liang, Deputy Director of the tuberculosis Prevention and Control Clinical Center of the China Center for Disease Control and Prevention and Vice President of Beijing Chest Hospital. As one of the oldest infectious diseases in the world, tuberculosis is also known as the "white plague" and "tuberculosis". Tuberculosis is caused by Mycobacterium tuberculosis, which can invade various organs of the human body, and pulmonary tuberculosis is the most common. In the West, tuberculosis was once known as the "leading cause of death", and in China, there was also the saying "nine deaths from tuberculosis". On March 24, 1882, German scientist Robert Koch announced the discovery of the pathogenic bacteria of tuberculosis, and the prevention and treatment of tuberculosis ushered in the dawn. With the emergence of special anti tuberculosis drugs such as streptomycin, isoniazid and rifampicin in the 1950s, the history of "nine deaths from ten consumptions" was completely reversed, and tuberculosis was no longer an incurable disease, or even disappeared for a time. In the late 1990s, with the increase of global population mobility, the emergence of drug-resistant strains, the prevalence of AIDS and other factors, tuberculosis resurged worldwide. In 1993, according to the incidence rate of tuberculosis and other conditions, the World Health Organization announced that tuberculosis had entered a "state of emergency". "Some people haven't heard about tuberculosis for many years, and think that tuberculosis has been eliminated, but in fact tuberculosis is not far away from us, it can be said to be a 'familiar stranger'." Li Liang said that tuberculosis is still a global public health problem that seriously endangers public health. According to the 2022 Global tuberculosis Report released by the World Health Organization, since 2000, the global tuberculosis prevention and control work has saved about 74 million lives, but in 2021, there will still be about 10.6 million new cases of tuberculosis and 1.6 million deaths due to tuberculosis. In China, significant progress has been made in tuberculosis prevention and control. In recent years, the cure rate of tuberculosis patients has always remained above 90%. However, as a high burden country of tuberculosis, China's tuberculosis prevention and control situation is still grim. China's estimated number of new cases of tuberculosis in 2021 is 780000, second only to India and Indonesia. Controlling and ultimately eliminating tuberculosis is a shared responsibility of the world. In 2014, the World Health Organization put forward the "Stop tuberculosis Strategy" and the goal of 2035: compared with 2015, the incidence rate of tuberculosis will be reduced by 90%, the number of deaths will be reduced by 95%, and the incidence rate of tuberculosis will be reduced to below 10/100000. In 2015, the UN Sustainable Development Goal 2030 proposed to end the prevalence of tuberculosis by 2030. "One of the core indicators of tuberculosis prevention and control is the incidence rate." Li Liang said, "If the incidence rate of an infectious disease falls below 10/100000, we can think that the epidemic of the infectious disease has been ended. China estimates that the incidence rate of tuberculosis will be 55/100000 in 2021, and will fall below 10/100000. There is an urgent need for innovative means and comprehensive measures to vigorously promote tuberculosis prevention and control.