Tuberculosis

Tuberculosis (TB) is a bacterial infection caused by a germ called Mycobacterium tuberculosis. The bacteria usually attack the lungs, but they can also damage other parts of the body. TB spreads through the air when a person with TB of the lungs or throat coughs, sneezes or talks. If you think you have been exposed, you should go to your doctor for tests as soon as possible. You are more likely to get TB if you have a weak immune system.

What is Tuberculosis?

Tuberculosis (TB) is a dreaded bacterial infection. It has been known to mankind since ancient ages. It was commonly called “consumption” at the turn of the last century because of the way the disease seemed to “consume” the individual it affected.

How Has The COVID-19 Pandemic Affected Tuberculosis Eradication?

Tuberculosis Causes

Tuberculosis Diagnosis

Tuberculosis Prevention

Tuberculosis Screening

Tuberculosis Treatment

Tuberculosis Prognosis

History of Tuberculosis

Tuberculosis in Animals

Tuberculosis Transmission

New tuberculosis technologies: importance of access in the private health sector

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What is the END TB Strategy?

Latest Tuberculosis News and Research

Energy drain from antibiotics spurs bacteria to resist treatment faster

Antibiotics are supposed to wipe out bacteria, yet the drugs can sometimes hand microbes an unexpected advantage.

9 Jun 2025

Trump decried crime in America, then gutted funding for gun violence prevention

Violent crime was already trending down from a covid-era spike when President Donald Trump presented a picture of unbridled crime in America on the campaign trail in 2024.

5 Jun 2025

Understanding antibiotic resistance mechanisms in Mycobacterium species

Announcing a new article publication for BIO Integration journal. Tuberculosis (TB) is caused by Mycobacterium tuberculosis (M.tb) complex (MTBC), which includes M.tb as one of the causative bacteria.

3 Jun 2025

New compound infuzide shows promise against resistant bacterial infections

Antimicrobial resistance directly causes more than 1 million deaths every year and contributes to more than 35 million more, according to the World Health Organization. Staphylococcus aureus and Enterococcus sp., 2 gram-positive pathogens highly likely to develop resistance to known treatments, can cause dangerous hospital-acquired and community-acquired infections.

2 Jun 2025

New antibody discovery reveals powerful immune defense against tuberculosis

Researchers at the Ragon Institute have made a significant discovery about how antibodies can directly enhance the body's ability to fight Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb), the bacteria responsible for tuberculosis (TB).

30 May 2025

New insights into decades-old bladder cancer treatment offers clues for immunotherapy

More than three decades ago, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved Bacillus Calmette-Guérin (BCG) as the first immunotherapy against cancer. And it is still used today to treat early-stage bladder cancer.

29 May 2025

BCG immunotherapy reprograms bone marrow to boost cancer defense

29 May 2025

WHO and African Union renew agreement to strengthen health in Africa

The World Health Organization (WHO) and the African Union (AU) Commission renewed their longstanding strategic partnership today with the signing of an updated Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on the sidelines of the 78th World Health Assembly in Geneva.

26 May 2025

Novel immune cells identified as potential target for tuberculosis vaccines

There is no highly effective vaccine against tuberculosis (TB), which remains an infection of global concern.

26 May 2025

Metagenomic next-generation sequencing improves pulmonary infection diagnosis

A recent study on the application of Metagenomic next-generation sequencing (mNGS) found that mNGS can achieve early detection of pathogens and accelerate the development of targeted anti-infection treatment plans, thereby improving treatment outcomes and patient prognosis.

23 May 2025

Tuberculosis bacteria use molecular switch to pause and restart growth

The bacteria that cause tuberculosis (TB) may have an "on-off switch" that lets them pause and restart growth, according to a new study from the University of Surrey and the University of Oxford.

23 May 2025

Metabolite profiles in spinal fluid predict mortality in tuberculous meningitis

Radboudumc researchers Kirsten van Abeelen, Edwin Ardiansyah, Sofiati Dian, Vinod Kumar, Reinout van Crevel and Arjan van Laarhoven used metabolomics to study cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) samples from tuberculous meningitis patients in Vietnam and Indonesia, with long-standing collaborators from Bandung and Jakarta (Indonesia), the Broad Institute (Boston) and the Oxford University Research Unit in Ho Chi Minh City (Vietnam).

22 May 2025

HIV vaccine study marks breakthrough in targeting broad immune responses

A decades-long scientific challenge in HIV vaccine development has been finding a way to train the immune system to produce antibodies that can target many variants of the virus.

15 May 2025

New genetic database sheds light on Brazil’s ancestry and disease risks

Since the human genome was first sequenced in 2003, the world's scientific community has been racing to decipher this "book" written in an alphabet of four letters.

15 May 2025

Study reveals key differences in health risks between males and females

The results of an international study led by researchers from Queen Mary University of London's Precision Healthcare University Research Institute (PHURI) shed new light the underlying biological mechanisms which cause differences in health risks, symptoms and outcomes between males and females.

13 May 2025

Anti-parasitic drug could accelerate the elimination of infection endemic to Africa

Tens of millions of people in Africa are infected by parasitic worms that cause lymphatic filariasis (also called elephantiasis), a disease that leads to severe swelling and deformities of the limbs and genitals.

7 May 2025

Scientists engineer new drug candidate to fight deadly mycobacterial infection

In a classic example of scientific problem solving, scientists from the Hackensack Meridian Center for Discovery and Innovation (CDI) and colleagues have published a paper introducing a promising new drug candidate they engineered to target a deadly and emerging infection.

6 May 2025

Breakthrough in labeling TB glycans could lead to faster diagnosis

Tuberculosis, the world's deadliest infectious disease, is estimated to infect around 10 million people each year, and kills more than 1 million annually. Once established in the lungs, the bacteria's thick cell wall helps it to fight off the host immune system.

5 May 2025

New rifamycin drugs fight antibiotic-resistant lung infections more effectively

Researchers have developed next-generation rifamycin analogs that effectively kill both replicating and nonreplicating Mycobacterium abscessus while minimizing drug-drug interactions. Lead candidates UMN-120 and UMN-121 showed superior efficacy to current treatments in mouse models and retained potency against M. tuberculosis.

5 May 2025

New RNA-based diagnostics to fight against tuberculosis

In 2023, tuberculosis (TB) killed about 1.25 million people worldwide, more than any other infectious disease on Earth — even though it is curable. Months- or even years-long regimens of potent antibiotics can eradicate the Mycobacterium tuberculosis bacteria.

25 Apr 2025