Tuberculosis is an important public health problem and remains a leading cause of death in low- and middle-income countries, with an estimated 9.27 million new cases and 1.7 million deaths worldwide in 2007. HIV infection is the greatest risk factor for developing TB. The devastating association between HIV and TB means that 1.37 million of the new TB cases were amongst HIV-infected people, and one out of four TB deaths was HIV related in 2007. The risk of TB is increased during all stages of HIV infection from about 10% over a lifetime (in HIV-uninfected individuals) to as high as 30% per annum in patients with advanced HIV. These circumstances define the analysis of the immune response to TB in the context of HIV infection as a pressing research priority. With these facts in mind the focus of our special issue will be the immunology of HIV-associated tuberculosis. We invite authors to present original research articles that will reflect and stimulate the continuing efforts to elucidate the protective and pathogenic immune mechanisms in adults and children affected by both HIV and TB. The topics to be covered include, but are not limited to:

• Epidemiology (with respect to the combined effect of HIV and TB)
• Interaction between host and pathogens (immune reconstitution inflammatory syndrome; development of TB during antiretroviral therapy)
• Diagnosis (immunological assays for TB in HIV-infected people; immunological markers to define the risk of TB in HIV-infected people beyond the CD4 count)
• Treatment advances (TB treatment shortening regimes in the context of HIV infection and problems with drug interactions)
• Nonvaccination-based prevention strategies (isoniazid preventive therapy in the context of antiretroviral treatment; preventing mother-to-child transmission of HIV infection in the context of TB; microbicides in the context of TB)
• Vaccination strategies (safety and efficacy of novel TB vaccines in HIV-infected people)
• Animal models for understanding the combined effect of HIV and TB (e.g., studies on primate models dually infected with TB and SIV)

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