Animal models to study Mycobacterium tuberculosis and HIV co-infection.

Mycobacterium tuberculosis (M.tb) and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) co-infection has become a public health issue worldwide. Up to now, there have been many unresolved issues either in the clinical diagnosis and treatment of M.tb/HIV co-infection or in the basic understanding of the mechanisms for the impairments to the immune system by interactions of these two pathogens. One important reason for these unsolved issues is the lack of appropriate animal models for the study of M.tb/HIV co-infection. This paper reviews the recent development of research on the animal models of M.tb/HIV co-infection, with a focus on the non-human primate models.