Tuberculosis News and Research

Latest Tuberculosis News and Research

South Africa announces rollout of new single-dose ARV therapy

"South Africa's Health Minister Aaron Motsoaledi announced on Monday the launch of a new single-dose combination antiretroviral drug that will cost just 89 rand a month ($10) per patient, potentially revolutionizing AIDS treatment in the country," Salon reports (McDonough, 4/9).

11 Apr 2013

Interaction global health briefing provides recommendations to congress, administration

"If the United States does not follow through on global health commitments, there could be a reversal or stagnation of recent gains in reducing maternal deaths and incidences of tuberculosis, malaria, HIV and other diseases in developing countries, warns a report published [Monday]," titled "Global Health: Investing in Our Future," an InterAction press release states.

10 Apr 2013

Study reveals high blood pressure and obesity are no longer confined to wealthy countries

High blood pressure and obesity are no longer confined to wealthy countries, a new study has found. These health risks have traditionally been associated with affluence, and in 1980, they were more prevalent in countries with a higher income.

10 Apr 2013

Five Japanese drug makers form PPP to accelerate development of drugs, vaccines for infectious diseases

"Five Japanese pharmaceutical giants are teaming up with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and Japan's government to develop new medicines, vaccines, and diagnostics for infectious diseases in developing countries," GENNews reports (4/8).

10 Apr 2013

Continued support of Global Fund is worthy investment

Writing in the Huffington Post's "The Big Push" blog, Bill Gates, co-chair of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, examines why the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria is a good investment.

10 Apr 2013

Global Fund aims to raise $15B to fight infectious diseases in 2014-2016 period

"The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria has set the target of raising $15 billion to help countries fight the three infectious diseases in the 2014-2016 period, its Executive Director Mark Dybul said ... on Monday," Xinhua reports.

10 Apr 2013

Research findings could help develop effective vaccines against new strains of bird flu

Scientists have described small genetic changes that enable the H5N1 bird flu virus to replicate more easily in the noses of mammals.

9 Apr 2013

Anacor signs research agreement to discover drug candidates to treat neglected diseases

Anacor Pharmaceuticals today announced that it has signed a research agreement with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (the Gates Foundation) to discover drug candidates intended to treat two filarial worm diseases (onchocerciasis, or river blindness, and lymphatic filariasis, commonly known as elephantiasis) and tuberculosis.

9 Apr 2013

A*STAR's professor receives Szent-Gy-rgyi prize for groundbreaking cancer pill

Professor Alex Matter, Chief Executive Officer of A*STAR's Experimental Therapeutics Centre (ETC), has been awarded the 8th Annual Szent-Gy-rgyi Prize for Progress in Cancer Research by the National Foundation for Cancer Research (NFCR) for his contributions to the development of the first drug specifically targeting a molecular lesion in cancer.

7 Apr 2013

Student coalition ranks research universities' spending and activities on neglected diseases, other illnesses

"A first-time ranking of 54 top research universities in the United States and Canada has found that a miniscule percentage of funding goes to neglected diseases, despite the outsized influence that public universities play in developing medicines for illnesses often ignored by the private sector," Inter Press Service reports.

6 Apr 2013

To meet TB treatment goals, latent TB cases must be diagnosed

"If everyone in the world were tested for latent infection with tuberculosis (a status that predisposes people to develop active disease) today, at least one billion people would be positive," Ray Chambers, U.N. special envoy for health financing, writes in the Huffington Post's "The Big Push" blog.

4 Apr 2013

'Remarkable alignment' of PEPFAR, Global Fund efforts is reason for continued support

Recent global health events -- including the release of PEPFAR's Blueprint for an AIDS-Free Generation (.pdf), the launch of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria's new funding model, and the Institute of Medicine's evaluation of PEPFAR -- "mak[e] it clear; it is a time of transformation for global health," Deborah Derrick, president of the Friends of the Global Fight Against HIV, Tuberculosis and Malaria, writes in the Huffington Post's "The Big Push" blog.

3 Apr 2013

HAP caused by exposure to biomass fuels increases mortality risk

Almost four million people die each year from household air pollution (HAP) caused by exposure to the combustion of biomass fuels (wood, charcoal, crop residues, and dung), kerosene, or coal.

2 Apr 2013

Washington Post examines HIV, TB epidemics in Russia

The Washington Post examines how the HIV and tuberculosis epidemics are affecting Russia, where "HIV/AIDS was the third-largest cause of premature death," according to recently released data in the Global Burden of Disease Study 2012.

30 Mar 2013

Global Coalition of TB Activists lends voice to international discourse

"The Global Coalition of TB Activists came together at a February Stop TB Partnership meeting in Geneva, [an] announcement says, with the aim of closing gaps that leave those most affected by tuberculosis out of decision making at local, national, and global levels," the Center for Global Health Policy's "Science Speaks" blog reports.

30 Mar 2013

Preventing 4.4M child deaths in next 1,000 days is possible

"To reach the goal of decreasing deaths of children who have not yet reached their fifth birthday to four million in 2015, we estimate that 4.4 million children's deaths must be averted in the next 1,000 days," U.N. Special Envoy for Malaria Ray Chambers writes in the Huffington Post's "The Big Push" blog, in the first of what he says will be a series of entries discussing successes, challenges, and actions.

30 Mar 2013

South Africa to host third global forum on TB vaccines

"This week more than 250 scientists, researchers, and tuberculosis (TB) advocates from all over the world will gather in Cape Town, South Africa, at the Third Global Forum on TB Vaccines to share findings and look to the future of TB vaccine research and development,"

29 Mar 2013

Blog examines funding for MDR-TB versus drug-susceptible TB

In the Center for Global Development's "Global Health Policy" blog, Amanda Glassman, director of global health policy at CGD, and Kate McQueston, program coordinator at the center, examine spending on tuberculosis, including drugs to fight susceptible and multidrug-resistant strains of the bacteria.

28 Mar 2013

Congress passes, President signs continuing resolution for FY 2013

Funding for HIV through PEPFAR "took a hit while the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria got a boost last week when the House and Senate passed a Continuing Resolution bill to avoid a government shutdown and continue funding the government through Oct. 1, the end of fiscal year 2013," the Center for Global Health Policy's "Science Speaks" blog reports (Aziz, 3/26).

28 Mar 2013

IRIN examines Lancet series on TB

IRIN examines The Lancet series on tuberculosis, saying that authors writing in the collection of articles note that investments in TB since 1993, when the WHO declared the disease a global emergency, "have led to the most promising pool of new tuberculosis drug and vaccine candidates in more than 40 years, with several new drugs and drug regimens poised to enter late-stage clinical trials throughout the next few years."

28 Mar 2013