Tuberculosis News and Research

Latest Tuberculosis News and Research

Donor governments need to conduct more post-market oversight of generic medicines

The WHO and FDA approve drugs to treat malaria, tuberculosis and other diseases in low- and middle-income countries, but "some of the manufacturers, predominantly Chinese and Indian firms, may be knowingly producing" poor quality medicines, according to "the conclusion of my research teams' studies, published this week in the journal Research and Reports in Tropical Medicine," Roger Bate, resident scholar with the American Enterprise Institute and lead author of the studies, writes in a Washington Post opinion piece.

14 Jul 2012

EU-funded researchers develop new antimicrobial resistance monitoring solution

Every year hundreds of thousands of people die because of infections that have become resistant to treatment. A new data-mining, clinical monitoring and decision-support system, developed by EU-funded researchers, offers a powerful new weapon in the war on resistance to antibiotics.

14 Jul 2012

Global Fund hosts first business forum in Bangkok to encourage private-sector support

"The Global Fund to Fight Aids, Tuberculosis and Malaria on Wednesday opened its first business forum in Bangkok to encourage more private-sector support in combating the three epidemics," Thailand's The Nation reports.

14 Jul 2012

Roundup: Stark price differences at Calif. hospitals; Mass. health law framers helping other states

The typical patient in the San Mateo area was charged nearly $48,000 for a Cesarean birth in 2010 while the average charge in Fresno was less than $13,000, according to a report published Thursday by the California Public Interest Research Group's Education Fund, a nonprofit consumer advocacy organization.

14 Jul 2012

Global Fund investigation finds recipient organization in Bangladesh 'misappropriated' some $1.9M in grant funds

"The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria is eyeing the recovery of some $1.89 million 'misappropriated' grant funds following an investigative report on one of its sub-recipients in Bangladesh," the Devex "Development Newswire" blog reports.

13 Jul 2012

AIDS 2012 conference comes at a 'moment of hope'

"A tremendous amount of attention will be focused on AIDS over the next six weeks -- and that's a great thing," as the International AIDS Conference (AIDS 2012) convenes in Washington, D.C., from July 22 to 27, U.S. Global AIDS Coordinator Ambassador Eric Goosby writes in an opinion piece in The Hill.

12 Jul 2012

Many anti-malaria drugs in Africa fake or substandard, reports show

"Many of Africa's anti-malaria drugs are fake or of poor quality, weakening a crucial battle against the world's deadliest disease, a new investigation has found," GlobalPost reports, adding, "Many of the drugs -- even those approved by the World Health Organization -- are Chinese fakes or low-quality variants that failed quality tests, according to two new studies released today."

12 Jul 2012

AFP examines rise in TB cases in Madagascar

Agence France-Presse examines a rise in tuberculosis (TB) cases in Madagascar, writing, "Last year alone, 26,700 people contracted TB, according to the health ministry, a jump of more than 16 percent compared with 2009, when a military coup precipitated an economic crisis as donors suspended aid to one of the world's poorest countries."

11 Jul 2012

Global Fund general manager appeals for donations, calling fund a 'good deal'

Gabriel Jaramillo, general manager of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, "took a new approach to appealing for donations last week, arguing to finance ministers from participating nations that the fund is a great investment," the New York Times reports.

11 Jul 2012

New diagnostic test for drug-resistant TB allows 'new approach' to fight disease

The widespread incidence of drug-resistant tuberculosis (TB) "calls for a new approach to TB in the developing world," a Bloomberg editorial states.

11 Jul 2012

Activists criticize President Obama for not confirming attendance at AIDS 2012 conference

"Activists are reigniting their attacks against President Obama's record on battling AIDS ahead of the International AIDS Conference in Washington later this month," The Hill's "Global Affairs" blog reports.

11 Jul 2012

HIV and AIDS treatment: An interview with Charles Flexner, MD

The best estimates at the moment reckon that there are about 25 million people infected with HIV. Most of those are in resource-limited settings, including sub-Saharan Africa, South East Asia and India.

11 Jul 2012

DRCRF names 21 new Damon Runyon Fellows

The Damon Runyon Cancer Research Foundation, a non-profit organization focused on supporting innovative early career researchers, named 21 new Damon Runyon Fellows at its spring Fellowship Award Committee review.

11 Jul 2012

Diabetes far more widespread than previously thought

A third of the world's human population is infected with a dormant tuberculosis bacteria, primarily people living in developing countries. The bacteria presents a lifelong TB risk. Recent research out of the University of Copenhagen demonstrates that the risk of tuberculosis breaking out is four times as likely if a person also suffers from diabetes. Meanwhile, as a diabetic, a person is five times as likely to die during tuberculosis treatment.

10 Jul 2012

Modest sums of U.S. foreign aid have saved lives on an 'unprecedented scale'

In this New York Times opinion piece, columnist Nicholas Kristof examines the effectiveness of U.S. foreign aid, writing, "In this election year in the United States, there'll be bitter debates about what should be cut from budgets, and one thing Democrats and Republicans seem to agree on is that foreign aid is bloated."

9 Jul 2012

International AIDS Conference a call for global solidarity

Noting the 2010 reversal of the HIV travel and immigration ban allowing the International AIDS Conference (AIDS 2012) to be held in the U.S. for the first time in more than 20 years, Rep. Barbara Lee (D-Calif.) writes in a Huffington Post Blog opinion piece, "It is so exciting to host this conference at such a pivotal time in the history of the AIDS response," and adds, "At no other time in history has our global leadership been more important than it is right now."

7 Jul 2012

Health gains in Rwanda illustrate value of universal health insurance

Noting that the Supreme Court last week upheld the constitutionality of the Affordable Care Act, "mov[ing] the United States closer to the goal of health coverage for all," Pulitzer Prize-winning author Tina Rosenberg reports on health care coverage in Rwanda in this post in the New York Times' "Opinionator" blog.

7 Jul 2012

New study maps global zoonotic disease 'hotspots'

"A global study mapping human diseases that come from animals like tuberculosis, AIDS, bird flu or Rift Valley fever has found that just 13 such diseases are responsible for 2.4 billion cases of human illness and 2.2 million deaths a year," Reuters reports.

6 Jul 2012

Study: 13 zoonoses responsible for 2.4B cases of human illness per year

A new global study mapping human-animal diseases like tuberculosis (TB) and Rift Valley fever finds that an "unlucky" 13 zoonoses are responsible for 2.4 billion cases of human illness and 2.2 million deaths per year. The vast majority occur in low- and middle-income countries.

5 Jul 2012

AIDS battle: stretching use of anti-HIV drugs

A Johns Hopkins expert in the drug treatment of HIV disease and AIDS is spearheading an international effort to radically shift the manufacturing and prescribing of combination therapies widely credited in the last decade for keeping the disease in check for 8 million of the 34 million infected people worldwide.

5 Jul 2012