Tuberculosis News and Research

Latest Tuberculosis News and Research

Cepheid to launch GeneXpert Infinity-48 in Europe at 20th ECCMID

Cepheid will initiate European launch of its newest addition to the GeneXpert® family of molecular diagnostic testing systems, the GeneXpert Infinity-48, at the 20th annual European Congress of Clinical Microbiology & Infectious Diseases (ECCMID) in Vienna, Austria. The GeneXpert Infinity-48 System is the world's first and only fully-automated, random-access system designed for management of the entire molecular testing workflow — from sample data, cartridge loading and unloading, to final reporting of test results and disposal of cartridges.

7 Apr 2010

UCSF, SEEK Development launch international partnership to improve global health

UCSF and SEEK Development, a global health and development consulting group based in Berlin, Germany, have launched an international partnership that aims to improve global health by helping to turn scientific evidence into policy and action. The Evidence-to-Policy Initiative, or E2Pi, officially launches this week in San Francisco and Berlin, Germany.

7 Apr 2010

Researchers commence Phase 2 research study to test CERE-110 for AD

Researchers at Banner Sun Health Research Institute are about to start the first Phase 2 research study to test a gene transfer agent for Alzheimer's disease. AD is a degenerative and ultimately fatal disorder affecting as many as five million Americans and that number is expected to soar to more than 11 million by 2040.

7 Apr 2010

BD Diagnostics adds Innova Preanalytical Automated Microbiology Specimen Processor to product portfolio

BD Diagnostics, a segment of BD (Becton, Dickinson and Company), announced today the expansion of its product portfolio with the addition of the BD Innova™ Preanalytical Automated Microbiology Specimen Processor, which is designed to help increase laboratory efficiency and automate the modern microbiology laboratory.

From BD (Becton, Dickinson and Company) 7 Apr 2010

MicuRx Pharmaceuticals, Cumencor Pharmaceuticals, Pfizer collaborate to develop antibiotics for MDR-TB

MicuRx Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a biopharmaceutical company dedicated to the development of antibiotics to treat drug-resistant bacteria, and Cumencor Pharmaceuticals, Inc. today announced that the companies have entered a collaboration with Pfizer to discover novel therapeutic agents to treat multi-drug resistant tuberculosis.

7 Apr 2010

IGRAs effective for detecting confirmed active TB disease: CHEST

New data from a meta-analysis of existing literature published today in CHEST, the official journal of the American College of Chest Physicians, demonstrate that Interferon Gamma Release Assays are superior to the previous standard in diagnostics, the 100+-year-old tuberculin skin test, for detecting confirmed active Tuberculosis disease.

7 Apr 2010

Recent releases in Global Health

"Achieving the [Millennium Development Goal] MDG 4 target of reducing newborn and child mortality will require concerted efforts to scale up evidence-based interventions, especially community-based preventive and therapeutic strategies in primary care," according to a Lancet comment that reflects on the challenges associated with developing "the appropriate mix of strategies" to improve maternal health.

3 Apr 2010

Opinion: Job development for Haiti; NTDs in Africa; U.S. investment in TB

"Even before the earthquake, the Haitian economy was already on shaky ground. There is 70 to 80 percent unemployment in the formal economy. ... U.S. policy helped build this disastrous economy," AFL-CIO Executive Vice President Arlene Holt Baker writes in a Miami Herald opinion piece. Baker says previous employment efforts in Haiti resulted in "stop-gap jobs," which do not provide "employment stability or social protections."

2 Apr 2010

Mtb fine-tunes behaviour to escape detection and causes TB

Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb) possesses extraordinary survival ability by masking itself from the host immune system and persisting for decades inside the host. Speaking at the Society for General Microbiology's spring meeting in Edinburgh today, Dr Kristine Arnvig provides further insight into how the bacterium causes tuberculosis (TB) by fine-tuning its behaviour in response to its surroundings to escape detection.

1 Apr 2010

VA may expand list of Gulf War illnesses

The Army Times/Veterans Today: "In a boost for veterans of the 1991 Persian Gulf War and those who have served in recent years in Iraq and Afghanistan, the Veterans Affairs Department has proposed changes to its list of illnesses that are presumed connected to service to include nine infectious diseases."

1 Apr 2010

Opinions: Haiti relief and recovery; Tuberculosis control

Ahead of a U.N. donors conference focusing on Haiti tomorrow, several editorials and opinion pieces address the country's needs for relief and recovery.

31 Mar 2010

UNAIDS Executive Director calls for continued investment in HIV/AIDS prevention, treatment and removal of travel bans

During a meeting of lawmakers from 150 countries in Bangkok, UNAIDS Executive Director Michel Sidibe on Sunday warned that the global economic crisis could reverse recent gains in the fight against HIV/AIDS, Reuters reports.

30 Mar 2010

Wall Street journal examines fundraising efforts by GAVI, Global Fund

The GAVI Alliance and the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria "on Friday began an effort to raise as much as $24 billion from members of the Group of 20 nations that will test whether a major push begun a decade ago against infectious diseases can survive the global recession," the Wall Street Journal reports. The two groups held meetings last week in The Hague with government representatives from existing and potential donor nations, according to the newspaper.

30 Mar 2010

Research challenges current thinking about TB bacterium

Two new tuberculosis studies by UT Southwestern Medical Center researchers provide good news and bad news about the bacterium that infects nearly a third of the world's population and a disease that kills nearly 2 million people each year.

30 Mar 2010

Conference on the actions of Vitamin D on human health

An important conference on the actions of Vitamin D on human health is being hosted by Barts and The London Medical School and the MRC Asthma UK Centre in Allergic Mechanisms of Asthma.

30 Mar 2010

Also in Global Health News: H1N1; USAID's Global Pulse; Rotavirus vaccine; Uzbek doctors; Zimbabwe development; Malaria vaccine

WHO flu chief Keiji Fukuda on Monday announced that a group of 29 independent scientists and public health experts has been formed to evaluate the response of the organization and national governments to the emergence of H1N1 (swine flu), the Associated Press reports. According to Fukuda, the committee will hold its first meeting April 12-14 (3/29).

29 Mar 2010

TB-causing bacteria can hijack fat metabolism to drive progression of the disease

The factors instrumental in triggering latent tuberculosis infection to progress into active disease have long remained elusive to researchers. New insight into the mystery is provided by Professor David Russell, speaking at the Society for General Microbiology's spring meeting in Edinburgh today. His work could help develop innovative strategies for treating the disease.

29 Mar 2010

FDA: Outbreak of campylobacteriosis linked to drinking raw milk

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration, along with several state agencies, is alerting consumers to an outbreak of campylobacteriosis associated with drinking raw milk. At least 12 confirmed illnesses have been recently reported in Michigan. Symptoms of campylobacteriosis include diarrhea, abdominal pain and fever.

27 Mar 2010

NIH awards $15M grant to UMDNJ-New Jersey Medical School

For the second time in less than one month, the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey-New Jersey Medical School has been awarded a coveted $15 million grant by the National Institutes of Health.

27 Mar 2010

Recent releases in Global Health

"Sub-Saharan Africa is affected by a disproportionately high prevalence of both HIV infection and food scarcity," write the authors of an American Journal of Clinical Nutrition article on the relationship between malnutrition and the progression of HIV/AIDS. "Underweight individuals will continue to represent a significant proportion of patients who present for HIV care in sub-Saharan Africa.

27 Mar 2010