Born in Malta in 1951, I graduated as a respiratory specialist in the University Hospital of Leiden (the Netherlands) in 1983, and since then have been working in a general, 500-bed, training hospital in the Hague, treating and caring for local and immigrant (multicultural, multiethnic) population groups. Tuberculosis has always fascinated me. It is a disease one has to be particularly aware of. Awareness of the disease, a good R/ (treatment) timely instituted, and a well-organized Public Health Service are the essentials to overcome and possibly eradicate this disease from the globe, a situation not yet realized.