Tuberculosis News and Research

Latest Tuberculosis News and Research

FDA approves Pfizer’s XELJANZ to treat rheumatoid arthritis

Pfizer Inc. has received approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for XELJANZ (tofacitinib citrate) 5 mg twice daily for the treatment of adults with moderately to severely active rheumatoid arthritis (RA) who have had an inadequate response or intolerance to methotrexate.

6 Nov 2012

Pfizer receives FDA approval for Xeljanz to treat rheumatoid arthritis

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration today approved Xeljanz (tofacitinib) to treat adults with moderately to severely active rheumatoid arthritis (RA) who have had an inadequate response to, or who are intolerant of, methotrexate.

6 Nov 2012

IRIN examines controversy surround AMFm

IRIN examines the controversy surrounding the Affordable Medicines Facility-malaria (AMFm), writing, "The argument over the way it operates has reignited ahead of a board meeting of the [Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria] on 14-15 November, which is due to assess the success of the project and its reliance on private sector providers."

6 Nov 2012

USAID newsletter focuses on TB

The November 2012 issue of USAID's "Global Health News" newsletter focuses on tuberculosis (TB).

6 Nov 2012

USAID to triple financial support for PAHO/WHO Regional TB Program

According to a Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) and WHO joint press release, USAID "has tripled its financial support for the Pan American Health Organization/World Health Organization (PAHO/WHO) Regional Tuberculosis Program, which seeks to prevent 15,000 deaths from tuberculosis in Latin America and the Caribbean over the next five years and reduce the incidence of this disease."

3 Nov 2012

Weill Cornell researchers awarded Grand Challenges Explorations grants

Weill Cornell Medical College announced today that it is a Grand Challenges Explorations winner, an initiative funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

3 Nov 2012

GlobalPost interviews director of WHO Stop TB Department about future of global response

In an interview with GlobalPost's "Global Pulse" blog, Mario Raviglione, director of the WHO's Stop TB Department, explains "why the fight against [tuberculosis (TB)] is at a crossroads."

3 Nov 2012

Intensified antibiotic treatment can improve prognosis of patients with TB meningitis

Researchers from the Radboud UMC have conducted the first study globally to show that intensified antibiotic treatment can improve the prognosis of patients with tuberculous (TB) meningitis, the most severe form of TB which carries a mortality of up to 50%.

3 Nov 2012

Mass spectrometry can help visualize how drugs work inside living cells to kill infectious microbes

Weill Cornell Medical College researchers report that mass spectrometry, a tool currently used to detect and measure proteins and lipids, can also now allow biologists to "see" for the first time exactly how drugs work inside living cells to kill infectious microbes.

3 Nov 2012

Resolve to fight TB must be strengthened in U.S. global AIDS blueprint

As part of its "Blueprint" series discussing the creation of a U.S. global AIDS blueprint called for by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in July, the Center for Global Health Policy's "Science Speaks" blog features an opinion piece by Salmaan Keshavjee of Harvard Medical School and Partners In Health. With an estimated 1,000 people with HIV dying of tuberculosis (TB) every day, "it is clear that our current approaches to addressing the global tuberculosis pandemic are inadequate," he writes.

3 Nov 2012

Researcher identifies 71 genetic regions newly associated with inflammatory bowel disease

In one of the largest studies of its kind ever conducted, an international team of scientists has thrown new light on the genetic basis of the inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD).

3 Nov 2012

Drug-resistant malaria spreading in Asia, experts warn

"Drug-resistant malaria is spreading in Asia, experts warned as a high-level conference opened Wednesday with the aim of hammering out an action plan to strengthen the region's response," Agence France-Presse reports.

1 Nov 2012

AP examines future of AMFm following conflicting reports on program's success

The Associated Press examines the debate over the future of the Affordable Medicines Facility-malaria (AMFm), after the recent release of two papers evaluating the program's effectiveness. AMFm was established in 2010 as "a pilot project to subsidize artemesinin combination drugs, the most effective malaria treatment," the AP writes, noting the $460 million program is managed by the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria.

1 Nov 2012

Research team receives grant to study impact of urban air pollution on TB immunity

An international team of researchers, led by Stephan Schwander, MD, PhD, director of the Center for Global Public Health at the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey-School of Public Health, has received a $2.96 million grant to conduct a "real-world" study on the impact of urban air pollution on the human immune system's ability to resist Mycobacterium tuberculosis, the bacterium that causes tuberculosis.

29 Oct 2012

New HIV test for babies differs from conventional test, delivers diagnosis in less than an hour

Today, mothers in Africa sometimes walk more than 10 miles to a clinic only to learn that conventional HIV test results for their babies are not available yet.

29 Oct 2012

Study identifies three organizations successfully using innovative financing for global health

Researchers from Imperial College London, the Harvard Global Equity Initiative, and Harvard School of Public Health "have identified three global organizations that new funding initiatives should emulate in order to meet health priorities in poorer countries, in research published [Thursday] in the journal the Lancet," Imperial College London reports in an article on its webpage.

29 Oct 2012

TB testing: today as good as 2-day

Same-day sputum smear microscopy is as effective as standard smear microscopy for the detection of pulmonary tuberculosis, according to a review commissioned by the World Health Organization.

26 Oct 2012

High worldwide drug-resistant TB figures are “worrying

The prevalence of resistance to second-line therapy among individuals with multi-drug resistant tuberculosis is high, show the results of a study conducted using data from eight countries worldwide.

26 Oct 2012

Researchers figure out 3D shape of promising TB drug target

Researchers at Johns Hopkins have figured out the three-dimensional shape of the protein responsible for creating unique bonds within the cell wall of the bacteria that cause tuberculosis. The bonds make the bacteria resistant to currently available drug therapies, contributing to the alarming rise of these super-bacteria throughout the world.

26 Oct 2012

Associated Press examines access to antiretroviral treatment in Myanmar

The Associated Press examines access to antiretroviral treatment in Myanmar, which "ranks among the world's hardest places to get HIV care, and health experts warn it will take years to prop up a broken health system hobbled by decades of neglect."

26 Oct 2012