Tuberculosis News and Research

Latest Tuberculosis News and Research

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

Lancet series examines tuberculosis

"To commemorate World TB Day 2013, the Lancet Infectious Diseases publishes a series of papers on tuberculosis, a disease that has long plagued human beings and was declared a global emergency in 1993 by WHO," the series homepage states.

27 Mar 2013

South Africa to expand rollout of new TB testing machine, but concerns remain about capacity issues

"South Africa will expand its rollout of GeneXpert tuberculosis testing machines, which can diagnose TB and drug-resistant TB within 90 minutes, but concerns remain about the capacity to back up this commitment with supplies and treatment," IRIN reports.

27 Mar 2013

New York Times examines emergence of XDR-TB in Australia, PNG

"Australia's first death from XDR-TB -- extensively drug-resistant tuberculosis, which is nearly incurable -- has alarmed health officials and added new heat to a debate over how to treat immigrants with dangerous diseases," the New York Times reports.

27 Mar 2013

Integration of TB/HIV services necessary to beat 'twin epidemics'

Swaziland "is struggling to overcome twin epidemics of HIV and tuberculosis," UNAIDS Executive Director Michel Sidibé writes in the Huffington Post "Healthy Living" blog.

27 Mar 2013

Lundbeck, Otsuka reach agreement to develop and commercialize Lu AE58054

H. Lundbeck A/S and Otsuka Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. today announced a license and development agreement for Lu AE58054, a selective 5HT6 receptor antagonist currently in development for the treatment of Alzheimer's disease.

26 Mar 2013

IRIN examines TB in southern African mines

Noting "South Africa's gold mines are estimated to have the highest number of new tuberculosis cases in the world, making the disease a leading export to neighboring countries," IRIN examines "the declaration meant to change this situation."

26 Mar 2013

Focused approach needed to end TB

Addressing the question of whether the international community can eliminate tuberculosis, Arundhati Maitra and Sanjib Bhakta of the Department of Biological Sciences at the University of London write in an opinion piece in the AlertNet News Blog, "With an estimated 8.7 million reported cases and 1.4 million deaths due to TB in 2011, the question above poses one of the most serious challenges faced by the scientific community, health care industry, government and public organizations worldwide."

26 Mar 2013

Challenges remain in fight against TB, U.N. Secretary-General says

On World Tuberculosis Day, recognized on March 24, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon "said that while there has been much progress since the World Health Organization declared TB a global health emergency two decades ago, there are still challenges to be met, mainly stopping the spread of multidrug-resistant TB, also known as MDR-TB, which threatens to reverse the gains achieved in past years," the U.N. News Centre reports.

26 Mar 2013

Blogs address issues surrounding TB, World TB Day

On Sunday, March 24, the international community observed World TB Day. The following is a summary of blog posts published in recognition of the day.

26 Mar 2013

Study shows vitamin D can help people breathe better and protect against TB

Maintaining adequate levels of vitamin D can help people breathe better and may even protect against tuberculosis (TB), according to a recent study accepted for publication in The Endocrine Society's Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism (JCEM).

26 Mar 2013

Additional resources needed to stave off TB resurgence

The release of new data by the CDC "showing that the number of people contracting tuberculosis in the U.S. has been declining for 20 years ... should be good news," but "as a physician and adviser working to control TB for more than 40 years, I'm more concerned than ever before about our ability to protect the public from this deadly airborne disease," Lee Reichman of the New Jersey Medical School Global Tuberculosis Institute writes in The Hill's "Congress Blog."

26 Mar 2013

Experts to meet in Cape Town to discuss development of vaccines for deadly airborne disease

At a time of growing global concern about the rising level of drug-resistant strains of tuberculosis in South Africa and worldwide, the world's top TB vaccine experts are meeting this week, the first time this scientific forum has been held in Africa, where they will present new research aimed at advancing development of vaccines against the deadly airborne disease.

26 Mar 2013