Tuberculosis News and Research

Latest Tuberculosis News and Research

More women need regular checks for Chlamydia infection: CDC

According to new figures from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), not many young, sexually active women in the United States are getting screened for chlamydia.

15 Mar 2012

UMDNJ to receive TB biomarkers grant from Gates Foundation

The University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey (UMDNJ) announced today that Dr. David Alland, professor of medicine, chief of infectious diseases, and director of the Center for Emerging and Re-Emerging Pathogens at UMDNJ-New Jersey Medical School, will receive a tuberculosis (TB) biomarkers grant awarded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation's Grand Challenges in Global Health program, an initiative which seeks to overcome persistent bottlenecks in creating new tools that can radically improve health in the developing world.

15 Mar 2012

Mobile phones could play a valuable role in helping HIV patients to take medication every day

Mobile phones could play a valuable role in helping HIV patients to take their medication every day, according to a new Cochrane Systematic Review. The researchers found that patients were less likely to miss doses if they were sent weekly mobile phone text message reminders.

15 Mar 2012

Largest-ever study of community-wide TB drug prevention did not improve TB control in South African mines

"After seven years of research, the world's largest study of preventative tuberculosis (TB) therapy has found that untargeted, community-wide distribution of TB prevention drugs did not improve TB control in South African gold mines," PlusNews reports.

15 Mar 2012

Narcotic drug use should be treated as illness, U.N. drug office director says

"Prevention, treatment, rehabilitation, reintegration and health have to be recognized as key elements in our strategy" to fight drug demand, supply and trafficking, U.N. Office on Drugs and Crime Executive Director Yuri Fedotov said Monday at the opening session of the U.N. Commission on Narcotic Drugs in Vienna, United Press International reports.

14 Mar 2012

Trudeau Institute creates TICRO to expand the scope of biomedical research

The Trudeau Institute announced today that it has expanded the scope of its biomedical research by creating a contract research organization (CRO), the Trudeau Institute Contract Research Organization.

13 Mar 2012

Global Fund donors 'earmark' funds for capacity-building, Fund's general manager says

Gabriel Jaramillo, the general manager of the Geneva-based Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, said in an interview on Friday that "quite a few donors" to the fund "have earmarked portions of their donations to us, their contributions, to capacity-building," the Associated Press/Washington Post reports.

13 Mar 2012

Study addresses how human body controls gamma-herpesviruses

New research from the Trudeau Institute addresses how the human body controls gamma-herpesviruses, a class of viruses thought to cause a variety of cancers. The study, carried out in the laboratory of Dr. Marcia Blackman, awaits publication in The Journal of Immunology.

13 Mar 2012

Many children with life limiting conditions have been underestimated

The number of children with conditions such as muscular dystrophy, neurodegenerative disorders or severe cerebral palsy who are surviving into adulthood has been underestimated, a new study shows.

12 Mar 2012

Former British PM Gordon Brown publishes report examining child marriage, proposes 'global fund for education'

"Child marriage is a one-way ticket to a life of poverty, illiteracy and powerlessness for girls and the international community needs to take urgent action to stop it," according to an analysis published Friday by former British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, the Guardian reports.

10 Mar 2012

Emergent BioSolutions fourth quarter total revenues increase to $107.9M

Emergent BioSolutions Inc. announced today its financial results for the fourth quarter and full year ended December 31, 2011.

9 Mar 2012

Global health community marks passing of U.S. Rep. Donald Payne

Rep. Donald Payne (D-N.J.), the first African American elected to Congress from New Jersey, died of complications from colon cancer on Tuesday at age 77, VOA News reports.

8 Mar 2012

Nature examines how funding shortfalls are hindering efforts to use drugs to curb HIV spread

Nature examines how funding shortfalls are hampering global efforts to use drugs to curb the spread of HIV, writing, "At this week's annual Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections in Seattle, Washington, there was growing concern that financial austerity in the United States and elsewhere is eating away at the funding needed for a worldwide prevention effort."

8 Mar 2012

Lilly, Boehringer Ingelheim announce availability of Jentadueto tablets

Boehringer Ingelheim Pharmaceuticals, Inc. and Eli Lilly and Company today announced Jentadueto (linagliptin/metformin hydrochloride) tablets are now available by prescription in many leading chain and independent pharmacies across the U.S.

8 Mar 2012

South Africa announces initiative to test thousands of miners for TB

"South Africa wants to test hundreds of thousands of miners for tuberculosis [TB] and ensure sufferers get treatment over the next year," David Mametja, head of South African National Department of Health's TB program, said Tuesday at a workshop organized by the Stop TB Partnership, the Associated Press/Washington Post reports.

7 Mar 2012

WHO reports more than 900,000 lives saved because of HIV/TB care and prevention guidelines, releases updated version

"An estimated 910,000 lives were saved globally in six years due to guidelines intended to ensure that people living with HIV/AIDS are protected from tuberculosis [TB], the United Nations World Health Organization (WHO) said today, releasing an updated policy on joint prevention, diagnosis and treatment of both diseases," the U.N. News Centre reports.

6 Mar 2012

AIDS advocacy groups ask Obama to reconsider FY13 budget request for PEPFAR

"Nine global HIV/AIDS advocacy organizations sent a letter [.pdf] to President Obama Thursday asking him to rethink his fiscal year (FY) 2013 budget recommendation to slash $546 million in funding from the U.S. President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) program," the Center for Global Health Policy's "Science Speaks" blog reports.

6 Mar 2012

Ukraine Security Secretary says HIV, TB remain threat to nation's security, encourages cooperation with Global Fund

Speaking about two bills concerning Ukraine's cooperation with the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, Ukraine Secretary of National Security and Defense Council Andriy Kliuyev said "the epidemics of AIDS and tuberculosis [TB] remain a threat to national security in Ukraine and require redoubled efforts to treat and prevent these diseases," Interfax reports.

5 Mar 2012

Bill Gates meets MTBVAC TB vaccine researchers in Spain

On 21 February Bill Gates met with Dr. Carlos Martin of the University of Zaragoza and members of his team in Madrid, Spain. The scientists are working on the development of MTBVAC, a new vaccine against tuberculosis (TB). Gates showed great interest in the scientific background of MTBVAC, the most advanced vaccine based on attenuation of Mycobacterium tuberculosis.

5 Mar 2012

Sachs says he is 'eager for challenge' of World Bank presidency

The new president of the World Bank "should come to office understanding the realities of flooded villages, drought-ridden farms, desperate mothers hovering over comatose, malaria-infected children, and teenage girls unable to pay high school tuition. More than knowing these realities, and caring to end them, the bank president should understand their causes and interconnected solutions," Jeffrey Sachs, director of the Earth Institute at Columbia University, writes in a Washington Post opinion piece.

3 Mar 2012