Rifampicin News and Research

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How can Europe tackle its unfinished tuberculosis business?

A recent Eurosurveillance journal editorial discussed the progress in the EU/EEA, between 2018 and 2021, towards achieving the 2030 targets for TB elimination.

27 Mar 2023

The rapid diagnosis of drug-resistant and drug-sensitive tuberculosis using mass spectrometry and machine learning

In a recent study posted to the Preprints with The Lancet SSRN* server, a team of researchers in China developed a machine learning-based diagnostic tool to detect tuberculosis and drug-resistant tuberculosis using nanoparticle-enhanced laser desorption/ionization mass spectrometry (NPELDI MS) to determine metabolic fingerprints from serum samples.

28 Feb 2023

St. Jude researchers show how drug makers can avoid toxicity and resistance

Scientists at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital have demonstrated how drug makers can avoid two key problems: toxicity and resistance.

28 Feb 2023

COVID-19 pandemic increased deaths and disease caused by tuberculosis

A new report published by the World Health Organization indicated a decrease in global spending on essential TB services from US$6 billion in 2019 to US$5.4 billion in 2021.

31 Oct 2022

What is the real-world efficacy of oral antivirals against the SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant?

A new review commented on a previous study regarding the real-world effectiveness of oral antivirals against the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) Omicron variant.

12 Oct 2022

Virtual screening and molecular dynamics explore potential repurposed drugs against monkeypox virus

A recent study investigated ‘targets’ in the poxvirus and identified the protein residues active in MPV, following which eight potential anti-viral drugs were proposed.

25 Aug 2022

Antibiotic rifampicin attenuates C9orf72-linked dementia in genetically modified mice

What did Stephen Hawking and Mao Zedong have in common? They both suffered from Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS), a cure for which remains elusive. Scientists from Osaka Metropolitan University took an important step toward prevention of ALS and another brain disorder called Frontotemporal dementia (FTD) with their research on the effects of the antibiotic rifampicin on genetically modified mice.

23 May 2022

Household contact management could help avert 20% of the multi-drug resistant TB cases in children

One in five multi-drug resistant (MDR) tuberculosis (TB) cases in children under the age of 15 could be averted every year by household contact management, according to a new modeling study published in The Lancet Global Health.

20 May 2022

Researchers demonstrate how a narrow-spectrum antibiotic selectively targets C. diff

Most antibiotics are double-edged swords. Besides killing the pathogen they are prescribed for, they also decimate beneficial bacteria and change the composition of the gut microbiome.

6 Apr 2022

Combination of rifampicin and resveratrol helps stop dementia, finds study

Dementia is thought to occur when proteins called amyloid-β, tau, and α-synuclein accumulate in the brain and form oligomers. A research group from the Department of Translational Neuroscience, Osaka City University Graduate School of Medicine, had previously shown in a study using mice that the antibiotic rifampicin removes oligomers from the brain and improves cognitive function.

29 Dec 2021

New shorter treatment regimen found to be safer, more effective at treating drug-resistant TB

A new all-oral six-month treatment regimen is safer and more effective at treating rifampicin-resistant tuberculosis (RR-TB) than the current accepted standard of care, according to results announced at the 52nd Union World Conference on Lung Health.

20 Oct 2021

Weill Cornell receives NIH support to advance TB research

Tuberculosis (TB) is one of the deadliest infectious diseases in history and one of the few that naturally infects only humans.

4 Sep 2021

Designing effective multidrug-resistant-TB treatments based on DNA sequencing

Globally, tuberculosis is the most common bacterial infectious disease leading to death. The pathogen causing tuberculosis, Mycobacterium tuberculosis, has a number of peculiarities. One is that it is growing very slowly.

3 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

Clofazimine inhibits coronaviruses including SARS-CoV-2, study finds

Researchers at the University of Hong Kong found that Clofazimine, a lipophilic antimicrobial riminophenazine dye used in combination with agents like rifampicin and dapsone to treat leprosy, inhibits coronaviruses, including the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), the virus that causes COVID-19 disease.

21 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

Overcoming pediatric drug-resistant TB crisis

World Children's Day marks the day, over three decades ago, on which world leaders adopted the historic Convention of the Rights of the Child, promising to every child to promote and protect their rights, including the right to life and the right to health.

30 Nov 2020

WHO welcomes SHINE trial results on shorter treatment for drug-susceptible TB in children

The World Health Organization's Global TB Programme welcomes the results from an important study on shortened treatment for drug-susceptible tuberculosis in children, presented at the 51st virtual Union World Conference on Lung Health.

2 Nov 2020

Countries should step-up leprosy prevention initiatives to accelerate decline in new cases

New cases of leprosy are decreasing, but not at the anticipated rate. In order to accelerate the annual decline, countries should screen contacts and treat eligible contacts with single-dose rifampicin, as recommended by the World Health Organization in its guidelines.

8 Sep 2020