Drug Resistant Tuberculosis News and Research

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High rates of TB in Latin American prisons constitute a “health and human rights crisis”, warns study

High rates of tuberculosis (TB) in Latin American prisons are subverting efforts to control the disease in the wider population, and constitute a "health and human rights crisis", a study warns.

5 May 2021

Researchers find the right dosing of an old anti-tuberculosis drug

A considerably higher dose of the anti-tuberculosis drug rifampicin is safe and can also lead to a shorter treatment for tuberculosis and less resistance.

22 Mar 2021

U.S. Congress has clear opportunity to supercharge global health R&D, shows report

The U.S. Congress and Biden-Harris administration have a clear opportunity to supercharge global health research and development (R&D) in the wake of a pandemic that has revealed both the sector's chronic neglect and amazing potential.

12 Mar 2021

New drug cocktail offers hope to patients with highly drug-resistant tuberculosis

A new three-drug, all-oral, six-month treatment is providing hope to patients in Tajikistan with highly drug-resistant forms of tuberculosis, which until now had limited treatment options and poor prognosis.

3 Feb 2021

WHO revises definition of extensively drug-resistant tuberculosis

The definition of extensively drug-resistant tuberculosis (XDR-TB) has been revised by the World Health Organization's Global TB Programme, who have also defined pre-XDR-TB for the first time, highlighting the seriousness of these forms of TB.

1 Feb 2021

Key antibiotic used for treating drug-resistant TB does not work as expected

Crick and Imperial researchers have found that a key antibiotic widely used to treat drug-resistant tuberculosis does not work as expected - a finding which could be used to develop new drugs.

16 Mar 2020

Advances in tuberculosis research yield immune responses

A new study published in January 2020 in the journal Science Translational Medicine depicts for the first time ever a beautifully detailed map of the way three different species reacts to tuberculosis, based on their genetic and immune differences.

30 Jan 2020

The challenge of new antibiotic discovery

It is important to discover antibiotic drugs and to bring them to clinical use, a task made all the more urgent by the increase in the number of infections that are resistant to existing antibiotics. However, this task is a formidable one.

28 Jan 2020

Antioxidant in green tea plant could be key to fighting tuberculosis

An antioxidant found in the green tea plant could become key to tackling tuberculosis one day, a team of international scientists led by Nanyang Technological University, Singapore has found.

17 Dec 2019

New clinical guideline for treatment of drug-resistant tuberculosis published

The American Thoracic Society, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, European Respiratory Society and the Infectious Diseases Society of America have published an official clinical guideline on the treatment of drug-resistant tuberculosis in the Nov. 15 American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine.

18 Nov 2019

Study uses whole-genome sequencing for early identification and containment of AMR pathogens

A study published today in PNAS examines the evolutionary and epidemiologic history of an epidemic strain of extensively drug-resistant tuberculosis (XDR-TB) - called LAM4/KZN- in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa.

29 Oct 2019

Green tea compound shows promise in tackling antibiotic resistance

Green tea has gained immense popularity across the globe, mainly because of its health benefits. Green tea extract has been used for many purposes – for weight loss, improved brain function, enhanced metabolism, and lower risk of some types of cancer, among others.

24 Sep 2019

FDA approves effective new treatment for extremely drug-resistant tuberculosis

Tuberculosis is the leading infectious killer in the world, far above AIDS. It kills about 1.6 million of the 10 million it affects every year. About 30,000 patients worldwide now have XDR tuberculosis (that fails to respond to any of the four antibiotic categories in use at present).

15 Aug 2019

Reversing drug resistance in tuberculosis bacteria

About 1.5 million people died of tuberculosis (TB) in 2017, making it the most lethal infectious disease worldwide. A growing rise in drug-resistant TB is a major obstacle to successfully treating the illness.

4 Jun 2019

Researchers study how Mycobacterium tuberculosis can develop resistance to anti-TB drugs

In July last year, South Africa became the first country to roll out a new anti-tuberculosis drug in its national programme.

31 May 2019

Promising new way to thwart tricky Mtb pathogen

Tuberculosis, an ancient and notoriously difficult disease to treat, has killed millions through the course of human history; and the antibiotics that have been used to fight the disease in recent history are becoming less and less effective.

29 Mar 2019

Aspirin could be used to treat patients with severe tuberculosis infection

Research led by the Centenary Institute in Sydney has found a brand new target for treating drug-resistant tuberculosis; our scientists have uncovered that the tuberculosis bacterium hijacks platelets from the body's blood clotting system to weaken our immune systems.

26 Mar 2019