Tuberculosis News and Research

Latest Tuberculosis News and Research

Better recognition of rising burden of cancer in Africa needed

Cancer kills more than seven million people a year throughout the world. This is more than HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria combined, and African countries, which carry a large part of the burden, are the least able of all developing countries to cope with the challenges it presents, says a consortium of international cancer organizations.

6 Sep 2012

Antibiotics: facts and fictions: an interview with Dr Philippa Binns, clinical adviser at NPS MedicineWise

Antibiotics are medicines used to treat infections or diseases caused by bacteria, such as some respiratory tract infections (including pneumonia and whooping cough), urinary tract infections, skin infections and infected wounds.

6 Sep 2012

Akonni receives NSF's Phase 2 SBIR Grant to develop Lab-on-a-Film microarray

Akonni Biosystems, a life science tools / molecular diagnostics company that develops, manufactures, and plans to market molecular testing devices for diagnosing infectious diseases and human genetic disorders, announced today the receipt of a $498,780 Phase 2 SBIR Grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF).

6 Sep 2012

PlusNews examines recently approved grants under Global Fund's Transitional Funding Mechanism

PlusNews examines the recently approved grants under the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria's Transitional Funding Mechanism (TFM), stating, "Last week, the Fund announced that 45 new grant applications, from countries such as Burundi, Malawi and Swaziland, have been approved under the TFM."

6 Sep 2012

Developing countries NGO delegation to Global Fund submits report highlighting challenges, recommendations

The Center for Global Health Policy's "Science Speaks" blog discusses a report by the developing countries NGO delegation to the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, submitted recently to the Global Fund Secretariat.

6 Sep 2012

Janssen receives FDA Priority Review for bedaquiline NDA to treat MDR-TB

Janssen Research & Development, LLC (Janssen) announced today that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has granted Priority Review to the New Drug Application (NDA) for bedaquiline (TMC207) to treat pulmonary, multi-drug resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB) in adults as part of combination therapy.

6 Sep 2012

Whole-genome sequencing can track origin and movement of TB pathogens

Reconstructing the spread of killer diseases such as tuberculosis (TB) from person to person using DNA sequencing quickly identifies the origin and movement of pathogens. This approach is directly informing public health strategies to control infectious disease outbreaks, says a scientist speaking at the Society for General Microbiology's Autumn Conference at the University of Warwick.

4 Sep 2012

High-dose vitamin D appears to help patients with TB recover more quickly

For decades before antibiotics became generally available, sunshine was used to treat tuberculosis, with patients often being sent to Swiss clinics to soak up the sun's healing rays. Now, for the first time scientists have shown how and why heliotherapy might, indeed, have made a difference.

4 Sep 2012

U.S., Nigeria inaugurate Defense Reference Laboratory in Abuja

U.S. Ambassador to Nigeria Terence McCulley spoke on Monday in Abuja at the inauguration of a Defense Reference Laboratory, Leadership reports, noting he said the laboratory, "which is the first of its kind in the sub-region," was supported by U.S. funding.

1 Sep 2012

Aidspan founder, executive director Bernard Rivers stepping down

The Center for Global Health Policy's "Science Speaks" blog profiles Bernard Rivers, founder and executive director of Aidspan, a watchdog of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, who is leaving his position after 10 years.

1 Sep 2012

MDR-TB, XDR-TB more widespread than previously believed, study shows

In a study published on Wednesday in the Lancet, researchers from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that "[a]mong 1,278 patients who were resistant to two or more first-line tuberculosis drugs in Estonia, Latvia, Peru, Philippines, Russia, South Africa, South Korea and Thailand, 43.7 percent showed resistance to at least one second-line drug," which "suggest[s] the deadly disease may become 'virtually untreatable,'" according to the study, Bloomberg Businessweek reports.

31 Aug 2012

Janssen submits bedaquiline MAA with EMA for treatment of multi-drug resistant tuberculosis

Janssen-Cilag International NV (Janssen) today announced it has submitted a Marketing Authorisation Application to the European Medicines Agency (EMA) seeking conditional approval for the use of the investigational drug bedaquiline (TMC207) as an oral treatment, to be used as part of combination therapy for pulmonary, multi-drug resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB) in adults.

31 Aug 2012

Brazil expanding national HIV treatment program to include patients with higher CD4 cell counts

Brazil is expanding its national HIV/AIDS treatment program to include about 35,000 additional people, the Associated Press/Seattle Times reports. "Ronaldo Hallal of the health ministry's Sexually Transmitted Disease Department said people with 500 or fewer CD4 cells per cubic millimeter will receive antiretroviral HIV treatment," increasing the cutoff from 350 or less CD4 cells per cubic millimeter prior to the expansion, the news service writes.

31 Aug 2012

Drug-resistant tuberculosis levels described as alarming by international study

A large, international study published Online First in The Lancet reveals alarming levels of tuberculosis (TB) that are resistant to both first-line and second-line drugs. The findings show high prevalence of resistance to at least one second-line drug (43.7%) among multidrug-resistant (MDR) TB patients from eight countries in Africa, Asia, Europe, and Latin America. Worse still, the study found higher than expected overall levels of extensively drug-resistant (XDR) TB.

30 Aug 2012

India's contribution to global health R&D needs domestic, international support

As the BRIC countries -- Brazil, Russia, India, and China -- invest more in innovations in health technologies and other areas, "many are looking to these countries to correct the global health research and development (R&D) imbalance that leaves the poor without needed products such as an improved tuberculosis (TB) vaccine or tests to help diagnose patients in remote rural settings," David de Ferranti, president of Results for Development Institute (R4D), writes in the Huffington Post Blog.

30 Aug 2012

Aidspan publishes new issue of 'Global Fund Observer'

Aidspan, an independent watchdog of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, on Monday published Issue 193 of its "Global Fund Observer."

30 Aug 2012

Global Fund Board approves 45 new two-year grants as part of Transitional Funding Mechanism

"The Board of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria has approved 45 new two-year grants, from 37 countries, totaling $419.2 million, to fund essential prevention, treatment, and care services provided to the people affected by the three diseases," according to a Global Fund press release.

30 Aug 2012