Tuberculosis News and Research

Latest Tuberculosis News and Research

Global Fund executive director urges Ukraine to step up efforts to fight HIV/AIDS

Michel Kazatchkine, executive director of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, on Monday "urged Ukraine to step up its efforts to fight the HIV/AIDS epidemic," calling "on the Ukrainian authorities to expand opiate substitution therapy, ensure HIV/AIDS treatment in prison and increase government funding of anti-AIDS programs," the Associated Press reports.

18 Jan 2012

Vitamin D provides no relief from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease

Earlier studies have suggested that up to three quarters of people with severe chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, or COPD, are deficient in the vitamin. So it was thought that giving them extra vitamin D might help prevent exacerbations in symptoms or trips to the hospital because of shortness of breath or mucus in the airways. Belgian researchers have refuted this claim.

17 Jan 2012

Totally drug resistant Tuberculosis hits India

Reports reveal that nearly a dozen people in India are infected with a type of tuberculosis that is resistant to all antibiotics used to treat the disease and is thus named “totally drug resistant” or TDR tuberculosis.

17 Jan 2012

Traditional autopsy is still the gold standard in determining cause of death

TV crime shows like Bones and CSI are quick to explain each death by showing highly detailed scans and video images of victims' insides. Traditional autopsies, if shown at all, are at best in supporting roles to the high-tech equipment, and usually gloss over the sometimes physically grueling tasks of sawing through skin and bone.

17 Jan 2012

COPDF announces expansion of Bronchiectasis Research Registry

The COPD Foundation (COPDF) today announced expansion of its Bronchiectasis Research Registry to include patients with Nontuberculous Mycobacteria (NTM), an often misdiagnosed orphan disease that can cause severe lung infections that mimic tuberculosis when certain individuals are exposed to soil and water.

12 Jan 2012

NSU's medical school adds more developing countries to medical outreach programs

Nova Southeastern University's medical school recently expanded its international medical outreach programs to more developing nations with medical and humanitarian aid from students.

11 Jan 2012

TB screening, treatment program working to decrease caseload in Kenya

Al Jazeera examines how "[a] series of public-health campaigns, including more aggressive screening, have been credited with a drop in tuberculosis [TB] cases in Kenya" in this video report.

11 Jan 2012

Third-party to prepare FDA submittals for NanoLogix

NanoLogix Inc., an innovator in the accelerated detection, identification and antibiotic sensitivity determination of live bacteria announces that has instructed a third-party to prepare a total of six applications for submittal to the US FDA.

11 Jan 2012

END7 campaign aims to combat seven major NTDs by 2020

Launched today, the END7 campaign is dedicated to eliminating seven major neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) as a public health threat to poor communities by the end of 2020.

10 Jan 2012

Cases of totally drug-resistant TB reported in India

"For the first time in India, 12 people have been detected with totally drug-resistant lung tuberculosis (TDR-TB), a condition in which patients do not respond to any TB medication" and for which the mortality rate is 100 percent, the Hindustan Times reports.

10 Jan 2012

CMS increases NLA for T-SPOT.TB test's CPT code 86481

Oxford Immunotec, Inc. announces that, following a reconsideration request made by the company, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services has increased the national limitation amount (NLA) for the Current Procedural Terminology (CPT) code 86481 which is used for the T-SPOT.TB test.

10 Jan 2012

Congressional delegation visits Africa to assess impact of U.S.-sponsored projects

A Congressional delegation consisting of six senators and one representative arrived in Africa on Thursday for an eight-day trip that "includes oversight of Department of Defense, Department of State, and USAID activities in Africa," the Daily Republic reports.

10 Jan 2012

CNBG, Aeras reach final agreement to develop new TB vaccines

The global fight against the tuberculosis epidemic receives a boost today as Aeras and the China National Biotec Group (CNBG) announce that they have reached final agreement to jointly develop new tuberculosis (TB) vaccines.

10 Jan 2012

MPIIB, QIAGEN partner to develop latent TB diagnostic test

QIAGEN N.V. and the Max Planck Institute for Infection Biology (MPIIB), Department of Immunology have announced a new collaboration to develop a molecular diagnostic test to assess the risk of an individual with latent tuberculosis (TB) developing active TB disease during their lifetime.

From QIAGEN Manchester Limited 9 Jan 2012

Driving in the mid-lane helps pensioners stay safe

It's official: older adults are naturally inclined to drive in the middle of the road, leaving the younger generation to cut corners. This tendency to sit mid-lane is an in-built safety mechanism that helps pensioners stay safe behind the wheel, according to researchers at the University of Leeds, UK.

5 Jan 2012

Researchers show how modern science can unlock mysteries of the past

Two teams of Michigan State University researchers - one working at a medieval burial site in Albania, the other at a DNA lab in East Lansing - have shown how modern science can unlock the mysteries of the past.

4 Jan 2012

Speedy drug metabolism more likely to cause multidrug-resistant TB

A UT Southwestern Medical Center study using a sophisticated "glass mouse" research model has found that multidrug-resistant tuberculosis (TB) is more likely caused in patients by speedy drug metabolism rather than inconsistent doses, as is widely believed.

29 Dec 2011

Drinking untreated water increases risk of mycobacterial infection

Infections caused by mycobacteria (bacteria which are the cause of diseases such as tuberculosis in humans and animals) have a great impact on public health, animal health and the health of ecosystems in rural areas of Uganda.

29 Dec 2011

MSF publishes list of top 10 stories of 2011 about access to medicine

This Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) special report highlights the top 10 stories of 2011 regarding access to essential medicines, according to MSF.

23 Dec 2011

'Dramatic gains' in fight against malaria in jeopardy due to Global Fund shortfall

In this post on the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation's "Impatient Optimists" blog, Kent Campbell, director of the Malaria Control Program at PATH, says "dramatic gains" made in the fight against malaria, and the possibility of ending the disease, are in jeopardy because the "Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, which provides two-thirds of the global financing for efforts to combat malaria, is facing a financial crisis due to unfulfilled donor commitments."

23 Dec 2011