Tuberculosis News and Research

Latest Tuberculosis News and Research

Keynotes announced for ECCMID 2016

The European Society of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases (ESCMID) previews some of the keynote lectures at the 26th European Congress of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases (ECCMID). The globe’s most prominent infection specialists will be gathering at its annual congress in Amsterdam from 9 – 12 April 2016.

8 Apr 2016

New extended-release pills could reduce dosage frequency of some drugs

Researchers from MIT and Brigham and Women's Hospital have designed a new type of pill that, once swallowed, can attach to the lining of the gastrointestinal tract and slowly release its contents. The tablet is engineered so that one side adheres to tissue, while the other repels food and liquids that would otherwise pull it away from the attachment site.

7 Apr 2016

Scientists find new way to inhibit growth of tuberculosis-causing bacterium

Scientists at the The University of Queensland and the University of California San Francisco have found a new way to inhibit the growth of the bacterium that causes tuberculosis (TB).

6 Apr 2016

Inflectra (infliximab-dyyb) approved for multiple indications

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration today approved Inflectra (infliximab-dyyb) for multiple indications. Inflectra is administered by intravenous infusion. This is the second biosimilar approved by the FDA.

6 Apr 2016

SymCel joins global initiative to combat antibiotic resistance

Following the global and joint initiative by the pharmaceutical, biotechnology and diagnostics industries this year to combat antibiotic resistance, demand for innovative solutions is especially high. The event took place in January at the World Economic Forum in Davos.

5 Apr 2016

GHIT Fund invests in two innovative malaria eradication tools

The Global Health Innovative Technology Fund (GHIT Fund) announced today that it’s investing US$1,383,785 in a pair of innovative malaria eradication tools—a vaccine that could block transmission of two species of the deadly disease and a rapid field test that can reveal a malaria infection in minutes.

1 Apr 2016

Abstracts on colistin resistance and migrant health part of 300 late-breaker sessions for ECCMID 2016

The European Society of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Disease (ESCMID) – an organization that explores risks, knowledge sharing and best practices in the fight against infectious disease – has received more than 300 late-breaker abstract submissions for its annual congress, ECCMID 2016 in Amsterdam.

31 Mar 2016

New drug regimens could significantly improve treatment for tuberculosis

Researchers from UCLA and Shanghai Jiao Tong University have made an important step toward a substantially faster and more effective treatment for tuberculosis, which infects some 10 million people and causes 1.5 million deaths each year.

29 Mar 2016

Researchers develop rapid yet inexpensive test for TB

Although tuberculosis (TB) is commonly thought of as being a disease that mainly affects nineteenth century poets and Victor Hugo characters, it is still the second-most common cause of mortality from an infectious disease in the world, killing nearly three people every minute. Every March 24, on World TB Day, the global health community recognizes the work of Robert Koch, who announced on that date in 1882 his discovery of Mycobacterium tuberculosis, the bacteria that causes TB.

25 Mar 2016

IBM's World Community Grid supports TB eradication project

The University of Nottingham is launching a new study to address tuberculosis (TB), one of the world's most deadly diseases, supported by IBM's World Community Grid -- one of the most powerful and fastest virtual supercomputers on the planet.

25 Mar 2016

Lancet experts call for evidence-based approach to drug policy

Fifty years of drug policies aimed at restricting and criminalizing drug use and minor possession have had serious detrimental effects on the health, wellbeing and human rights of drug users and the wider public, according to a major new report by The Lancet and Johns Hopkins University in the US

25 Mar 2016

Blood test can predict risk of developing TB disease long before it manifests

A landmark study published this month in the leading medical journal, The Lancet, reports the discovery of a blood test that can predict whether someone is likely to develop tuberculosis (TB) disease, long before the disease manifests.

23 Mar 2016

New worldwide collaboration aims to speed up effective diagnosis of TB

As World TB day (24 March) marks global efforts to eliminate tuberculosis as a public health problem by 2035, Oxford University researchers, in partnership with Public Health England (PHE), will lead a new worldwide collaboration called CRyPTIC to speed up diagnosis of the disease.

23 Mar 2016

World TB Day 2016: WHO calls to Unite to End TB

In advance of World TB Day, to be observed on 24 March, the World Health Organization is calling on countries and partners to Unite to End TB.

22 Mar 2016

World TB Day: Aeras releases new animated video to help raise awareness about TB

Aeras, a non-profit biotechnology organization developing new tuberculosis (TB) vaccines for the world, is launching a new 90-second animated video in honor of World TB Day to help raise awareness about TB’s devastating toll and the need for new tools, including vaccines, to fight this epidemic.

22 Mar 2016

Simple TB screening and isoniazid can be effective for HIV patients at risk for TB

The number one killer of HIV patients in resource-limited areas, including parts of Africa and India, is tuberculosis (TB), underscoring the need for optimal treatments and effective strategies to address this deadly co-infection. But TB is harder to detect in HIV-infected patients and diagnostic test results take time, so many healthcare providers prescribe multi-drug TB treatments as a precaution.

20 Mar 2016

Clinical study finds no added benefit of using four TB drugs to save people with advanced HIV/AIDS

In a report on the so-called REMEMBER (Reducing Early Mortality and Early Morbidity by Empiric Tuberculosis Treatment) study -- a 10-nation, randomized clinical trial of adult outpatients -- investigators concluded that there was no added benefit of using four drugs for TB over just using one drug, isoniazid, to save lives in people with advanced HIV/AIDS.

18 Mar 2016

Study: Statin drugs can reduce time to clear tuberculosis infection in mice

In a study using mice, the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine infectious disease experts have added to evidence that statin drugs — known primarily for their cholesterol-lowering effects — can significantly reduce the time it takes to clear tuberculosis infection.

17 Mar 2016

Low cost, easy-to-use test could help reduce TB death rate of HIV patients in sub-Saharan Africa

A low cost, easy to use, urine test to diagnose tuberculosis (TB) among patients with HIV could help reduce the TB death rate of HIV-positive patients in hospital, according to a new study published in The Lancet today.

10 Mar 2016

HIV-positive individuals in Africa with certain genetic variant have lower chance of developing TB

In the first known discovery of its kind, a Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine-led team has found that HIV patients in Africa with a certain genetic variant have a 63-percent lower chance of developing tuberculosis than HIV patients without the genetic variant.

10 Mar 2016