Tuberculosis News and Research

Latest Tuberculosis News and Research

Scientists show how malaria parasites invade the liver

Scientists at the Center for Infectious Disease Research recently uncovered a critical piece in the puzzle of how malaria parasites infect their host. The work, recently published in Science Magazine, reveals the details of how the malaria parasite invades its initial target organ, the liver. Without infection of the liver, the parasites cannot multiply or spread to the blood. Infection of the blood causes illness, spread of the disease, and, ultimately, death.

27 Nov 2015

U of T researchers discover mysterious fungus that defends against neighbouring bacteria

Researchers at the University of Toronto examined fungi in the mucus of patients with cystic fibrosis and discovered how one particularly cunning fungal species has evolved to defend itself against neighbouring bacteria.

21 Nov 2015

Many European hospitals fail to routinely test people at risk of HIV infection

A new study reveals that many European hospitals fail to routinely test people who may be at risk of an HIV-infection. If tests were more widely offered in the healthcare system, fewer HIV-patients would go unnoticed, especially in Northern Europe.

21 Nov 2015

Promising new treatment for sepsis on the horizon

A promising new drug for sepsis is on the horizon thanks to new funding from the British Heart Foundation, which could help take the laboratory discovery into the clinic.

18 Nov 2015

Researchers identify a mechanism that may explain association between obesity and cancer

Researchers have identified a mechanism that allows cancer cells to respond and grow rapidly when levels of sugar in the blood rise. This may help to explain why people who develop conditions in which they have chronically high sugar levels in their blood, such as obesity, also have an increased risk of developing certain types of cancer.

18 Nov 2015

TSRI scientists discover first-in-class compounds that target persistent tuberculosis

Tuberculosis has been infecting humans for several millennia, making it one of the most horribly successful diseases in history. Today, it is still a major killer, responsible for some 1.5 million deaths each year.

18 Nov 2015

Study shows how parasitic worm infection increases susceptibility to TB

Scientists have shown how a parasitic worm infection common in the developing world increases susceptibility to tuberculosis. The study demonstrated that treating the parasite reduces lung damage seen in mice that also are infected with tuberculosis, thereby eliminating the vulnerability to tuberculosis (TB) that the parasite is known to cause.

17 Nov 2015

Analyzing potential TB vaccine

When results from a landmark tuberculosis vaccine trial in Cape Town, South Africa were published in The Lancet in February 2013, the headlines were grim, despite hopes that the trial would point toward a successful way to thwart one of the globe's biggest public health threats.

13 Nov 2015

ACR releases 2015 Guideline for Treatment of Rheumatoid Arthritis

The American College of Rheumatology (ACR) released its 2015 Guideline for the Treatment of Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA) during the 2015 ACR/ARHP Annual Meeting in San Francisco.

11 Nov 2015

New funding for Centenary's life saving research

The Centenary Institute has welcomed the Federal Government’s announcement of funding for 9 new and innovative medical research projects via the latest round of NHMRC grant rounds funding, officially confirmed today.

9 Nov 2015

MPP announces expansion of mandate to hepatitis C and TB medicines

The Medicines Patent Pool, the world's only voluntary licensing mechanism in public health, announced an expansion of its mandate today to hepatitis C and tuberculosis medicines. The UNITAID Executive Board, meeting November 4-5 in Geneva, approved the MPP's proposals to improve access to both life-saving direct acting antivirals (DAAs) to treat hepatitis C and new and re-purposed medicines for tuberculosis.

6 Nov 2015

GHIT Fund invests $10.7 million to fight malaria, TB, leishmaniasis and dengue

The Global Health Innovative Technology Fund, which in the last two years has invested US$43 million to develop innovative tools for fighting diseases worldwide, today announced it is investing $10.7 million at multiple points in the product development pipeline to seek new interventions for malaria, tuberculosis (TB), leishmaniasis and dengue.

5 Nov 2015

Study evaluates effectiveness of antiretroviral treatment in HIV-infected children

A study led by Louise Kuhn, PhD, professor of Epidemiology at Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health, evaluated whether HIV-infected children in South Africa who had achieved viral suppression with one antiretroviral treatment could transition to efavirenz-based therapy, the recommended drug for children older than 3 years, without risk of viral failure.

4 Nov 2015

CureVac raises €100M to enable rapid expansion of mRNA development platform, clinical-stage pipeline

CureVac, a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company pioneering the field of mRNA-based technology, today announces that it has raised about $110 million (€100 million) to enable accelerated expansion of its industry-leading messenger RNA (mRNA) development platform and clinical-stage pipeline.

3 Nov 2015

West African man indicted in $12M anti-malaria fraud scheme

The United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York announced the indictment of a citizen of Burkina Faso for his role in a scheme to procure and distribute approximately two million fraudulent and substandard mosquito nets in the West African nation.

31 Oct 2015

Despite reduced HIV/AIDS deaths, disease still persists in South Africa

After peaking in 2007, AIDS mortality in South Africa has decreased with the widespread introduction of effective antiretroviral therapy, according to updated estimates published in AIDS, official journal of the International AIDS Society. AIDS is published by Wolters Kluwer.

30 Oct 2015

WHO report reveals significant reduction in TB deaths, but detection, treatment gaps still exist

The fight against tuberculosis is paying off, with this year’s death rate nearly half of what it was in 1990. Nevertheless, 1.5 million people died from TB in 2014. Most of these deaths could have been prevented, according to the World Health Organization’s Global Tuberculosis Report 2015, which was released today in Washington, DC.

29 Oct 2015

Liposomal sizing and the Coulter principle: an interview with Professor Melvin E. Klegerman

For about the last 25 years, the cardiology group here have been developing a platform technology for both the diagnosis and treatment of atherosclerosis.

From Beckman Coulter Life Sciences - Particle Counting and Characterization 28 Oct 2015

Major shift needed in global fight against tuberculosis, say researchers

Unless there is a major shift in the way the world fights tuberculosis--from a reliance on biomedical solutions to an approach that combines biomedical interventions with social actions--the epidemic and drug resistance will worsen, say researchers at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.

26 Oct 2015

New drug delivery method could be used to target cancer, tuberculosis

Scientists have designed a novel method for improving the delivery of therapeutic molecules into diseased cells such as those found in cancer and tuberculosis.

23 Oct 2015