Tuberculosis News and Research

Latest Tuberculosis News and Research

Proteus receives U.S. patent for ingestible digital devices

Proteus Biomedical Inc., a pioneer in intelligent medicine, announced today that the United States Patent Office awarded U.S. Patent Number 7,978,064 to Proteus.

14 Jul 2011

Donors should continue to provide AIDS funding to China, UNAIDS head says

Cutting AIDS funding to China will "be a big mistake for a donor and particularly, for anyone who's invested in China today, ... for the simple reason that this funding is a catalytic fund," UNAIDS Executive Director Michel Sidibe told Reuters in an interview on Monday.

13 Jul 2011

BRICS health ministers agree to improve access to low-cost medicines

Health ministers from Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa in Beijing "on Monday vowed to improve access to low-cost and high-quality medicine - and called on developed nations to shoulder responsibility in helping the poor," Agence France-Presse reports.

13 Jul 2011

Microneedle patches may target dentritic cells more efficiently and induce immunity against HIV

Applying a vaccine patch to the skin with thousands of tiny micro-needles could help boost the body's immune response and prevent the spread of life-threatening infections like HIV and TB, a major Cardiff University study aims to uncover.

11 Jul 2011

Nurses can help manage S. African's syndemic of TB and HIV

Jason E. Farley, PhD, MPH, CRNP knows the dangers inherent to an increasingly common and hazardous syndemic in South Africa: HIV and drug-resistant tuberculosis.

11 Jul 2011

QIAGEN to acquire Cellestis

QIAGEN N.V. today announced that it has amended its original proposal to acquire Cellestis Limited, a publicly traded Australian biotechnology company.

From QIAGEN Manchester Limited 11 Jul 2011

Federal appeals court rules government cannot force health groups to take anti-prostitution pledge

"A federal appeals court has ruled that the United States cannot force partners in its international fight against AIDS to denounce prostitution as a condition for receiving funding," the Associated Press reports. Three health organizations sued the government in 2005, saying some groups "advocate for a reduction in penalties for prostitution to prevent interference with outreach efforts," according to the news agency (7/6).

8 Jul 2011

Cloud computing technology shortens development time for new antibiotics

IBM today announced researchers from science and technology university ETH Zurich and CloudBroker, a high-performance cloud computing company, have partnered with IBM to use cloud computing technology to conduct cutting-edge research focused on developing new antibiotics to fight disease.

8 Jul 2011

Novartis Afinitor Phase III trial on tuberous sclerosis meets primary endpoint

Novartis Pharmaceuticals Corporation announced today Phase III trial results that showed more than one-third of patients taking Afinitor tablets experienced a 50% or greater reduction in the size of their subependymal giant cell astrocytomas, non-cancerous brain tumors associated with tuberous sclerosis complex.

8 Jul 2011

Vouchers and Health Equity Funds work well for poor: Research

In rich countries, the government can fund the health system directly, or subsidise the health costs of its inhabitants through the social security system. People then only pay a small lump sum. But in low and mid-income countries, the government doesn't have the money for (almost) free healthcare.

7 Jul 2011

Simpler antibiotic combination could help prevent TB in patients with and without HIV

Johns Hopkins and South African scientists have further compelling evidence that new, simpler and shorter treatments with antibiotic drugs could dramatically help prevent tens of millions of people worldwide already infected with the bacterium responsible for tuberculosis, and especially those co-infected with HIV, from developing full-blown TB.

7 Jul 2011

Germany to restore half of Global Fund donation withheld earlier this year

"Germany is unblocking half of the funding it withheld from" the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria "following revelations of corruption earlier this year," the Associated Press reports.

6 Jul 2011

New GHI research examines conflicts between donor and recipient countries

In the early 2000s, the international aid community started to fund health programs through Global Health Initiatives (GHIs) which provide aid and support for tackling infectious diseases, and for implementing immunization programs against childhood diseases. However priorities set by GHIs and by governments are not always the same.

4 Jul 2011

TB fight must break from status quo

"As WHO prepares for reform, it is also adjusting to a new financially constrained environment. WHO's STOP TB department, like others, has to downsize and refocus its activities. With increasing demand for guidance, technical support, and capacity-building in countries, the STOP TB department and partnership will have to do more with less in the future," a Lancet editorial states.

2 Jul 2011

MSF website lends voice to TB patients

"Medecins Sans Frontieres, whose volunteer doctors run TB clinics around the world, has launched a website called TB and Me, where patients are regularly blogging on their experiences," Sarah Boseley writes in the Guardian's "Global Health Blog."

2 Jul 2011

Lancet seminar on tuberculosis

The current issue of the Lancet features a seminar on tuberculosis that "presents current perspectives on the scale of the epidemic, the pathogen and the host response, present and emerging methods for disease control, and the ongoing challenge of tuberculosis control in adults in the 21st century".

2 Jul 2011

Improving health vital to good governance in Nigeria

In a Daily Independent opinion piece, U.S. Ambassador to Nigeria Terence McCulley writes that after "truly historic" elections in April, "the Nigerian Government faces complex challenges in the post-election environment. Security, electricity, good roads, education and reliable health care top most people's lists of immediate concerns."

30 Jun 2011

Global Fund reports mid-year results

The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria on Tuesday announced that programs it supports have distributed 190 million insecticide-treated bed nets to protect families from malaria since 2003, according to mid-year results, a Global Fund press release notes.

30 Jun 2011

Recombinant attenuated Salmonella vaccines hold promise against infectious diseases

A powerful new class of therapeutics, known as recombinant attenuated Salmonella vaccines (RASV), holds great potential in the fight against fatal diseases including hepatitis B, tuberculosis, cholera, typhoid fever, AIDS and pneumonia.

30 Jun 2011

Prototype small molecule drugs could suppress hepatitis C

Targeted multi-drug treatments for hepatitis C patients that could stop the virus in its tracks have come a step closer, thanks to researchers at the University of Leeds, UK.

29 Jun 2011