Tuberculosis News and Research

Latest Tuberculosis News and Research

Global health experts discuss legislative landscape of 112th Congress at Kaiser Family Foundation panel

U.S. global health programs did relatively well in terms of funding in the FY11 budget, but global health policy experts participating in a panel discussion on Wednesday at the Kaiser Family Foundation acknowledged that challenges remain as Congress begins debate on the FY12 budget.

25 Apr 2011

AP reports on Global Fund malaria drug thefts, issues correction

The Associated Press on Wednesday published an article reporting that hundreds of millions of dollars of malaria medication had been stolen from the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, but later issued a correction.

25 Apr 2011

Maxwell Biotech, Sequella enter license agreement to commercialize SQ109 for TB treatment

Sequella, a clinical-stage pharmaceutical company focused on commercializing novel antibiotics to treat life-threatening infectious diseases, and Maxwell Biotech Venture Fund announced their agreement to complete the clinical development and commercialize SQ109 for treatment of tuberculosis in the Russian Federation and neighboring Commonwealth of Independent States countries, including Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belorussia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Ukraine.

25 Apr 2011

UNITAID has raised $2B through airline tax since 2006, could be model for G20 development funding, UNITAID chair says

UNITAID, an international drug financing program established to help fight HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria in developing countries, has raised about $2 billion since 2006 through taxes on airline tickets in 15 countries, Philippe Douste-Blazy, chair of the UNITAID executive board, told reporters in Washington on Wednesday, Agence France-Presse reports. According to Douste-Blazy, UNITAID's experience could provide a model for G20 development funding efforts.

22 Apr 2011

Biomagnetics signs agreement with LANL to develop validated TB biomarker assay

Biomagnetics Diagnostics Corp., (PINK SHEETS: BMGP) a developer of revolutionary diagnostic systems and related technology for detecting HIV, hepatitis, tuberculosis, cholera and malaria, and other innovative technologies, today announced it has now completed a series of payments to Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) pursuant to the cooperative research and development agreement (CRADA) executed in 2010 between the two organizations.

21 Apr 2011

Opinions: Eliminating TB; HIV prevention trial; Reducing stillbirths; Foreign aid, global stability; Safe injection sites

In a U.S. News & World Report opinion piece, African Health Ministers Aaron Motsoaledi of South Africa, Mphu Ramatlapeng of Lesotho, and Benedict Xaba of Swaziland call upon the international community to join with them in the fight to rid the world of tuberculosis (TB). "That goal might seem overambitious or unrealistic. [But i]t's not," they write

21 Apr 2011

Immigrant screening fails to detect more than 70% cases of latent tuberculosis infection

Current UK procedures to screen new immigrants for tuberculosis (TB) fail to detect more than 70 per cent of cases of latent infection, according to a new study published in The Lancet Infectious Diseases.

21 Apr 2011

$2.3 million of malaria medicines stolen

According to the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, malaria medications valued at almost $2.3 million may have been stolen from government-run distribution centers in Africa and other locations.

20 Apr 2011

BIOTECH Development Partners provides funds to Biomagnetics

Biomagnetics Diagnostics Corp., (PINK SHEETS:BMGP) a developer of revolutionary diagnostic systems and technology for HIV, hepatitis, tuberculosis, cholera and malaria detection, and other innovative technologies, today announced it has begun receiving funds from a biotech-oriented investment group called BIOTECH Development Partners, LLC.

20 Apr 2011

Cmed Group selected to help PDPs develop new medicines in Third-World Countries

Cmed Group, an innovative clinical trials services and advanced software provider, announced today that it has been selected as one of six preferred providers offering its clinical research expertise to a consortium of 14 global health Product Development Partnerships (PDPs). The PDPs are working to develop and deliver affordable treatments and vaccines that will help improve the lives of the some of the world's most vulnerable people, especially those in developing countries.

20 Apr 2011

Diagnostic test Xpert MTB/RIF proven fast and effective in low-resource settings

The Lancet published a significant development for TB diagnostics yesterday with concrete and encouraging study outcomes on the effectiveness of the new Xpert MTB/RIF test for TB and rifampicin resistance in realistic health care field conditions. One of the authors, Prof. Mark Nicol of the University of Cape Town (South Africa) who contributed to this study, is an EDCTP Senior Fellow. The article demonstrates that the test can effectively be used in low-resource settings to simplify early and accurate diagnosis of patients. The potential impact is a reduction in the morbidity associated with diagnostic delay, dropout and mistreatment. The article has appeared online on 19 April 2011 and will be published in volume 377 on 30 April 2011.

20 Apr 2011

U.N. General Assembly passes resolution urging renewed efforts to fight malaria

Ahead of World Malaria Day on April 25, the U.N. General Assembly on Monday adopted a resolution urging governments, U.N. agencies, nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), and private foundations to accelerate their efforts and build upon established successes in the fight against the disease, particularly in Africa, Deutsche Presse-Agentur/M&C reports.

20 Apr 2011

Researchers find relation between strain of tuberculosis and Canadian fur trade

Researchers have found that a strain of tuberculosis responsible for devastating some isolated Aboriginal populations in Canada was first introduced to these communities by French Canadian fur traders between 1710 and 1870.

20 Apr 2011

Sugar-based vaccine against Helicobacter pylori

A potential vaccine against bacteria that cause serious gastric disorders including stomach cancer may be a step closer following a pioneering study by a University of Guelph chemist.

19 Apr 2011

New JAMA issue focuses on infectious diseases and immunology

Several media outlets report on findings published in this week's issue of JAMA, which focuses on infectious diseases and immunology.

15 Apr 2011

Study provides new insights into tuberculosis behavior

Patience may be a virtue in a person, but in an infectious disease, it is insidious. Witness tuberculosis, which can lie dormant in a human host for decades before bursting forth into infection. TB's stealthy nature has made it difficult to decipher how it spreads, seriously hampering efforts to control it. The World Health Organization estimates that a third of the people on Earth are infected.

12 Apr 2011

Marking World Health Day, WHO warns misuse of antibiotics undermining global fight against infectious diseases

U.N. officials on Thursday marked World Health Day with a warning that "the misuse and irrational use of antibiotics has undermined the global fight against tuberculosis and malaria, warning of a possible return to the days before the drugs were developed," and called for urgent action to control the spread of drug resistance, Reuters reports.

8 Apr 2011

New substance to tackle drug resistant tuberculosis

This year's World Health Day focuses on the growing threat of potentially deadly infections developing resistance to antimicrobial drugs - especially to antibiotics. On this occasion, the European Commission is presenting the promising results of two EU-funded international research projects which provide new hopes to help and treat people.

8 Apr 2011

National policy needed to address heath care system for immigrants, ACP says

As the U.S. immigrant population grows it will be necessary to address the vast number of immigrants who do not have access to health insurance coverage, or who face other barriers to accessing health care, the American College of Physicians said in a new policy paper released today at Internal Medicine 2011, ACP's annual scientific meeting.

8 Apr 2011

Opinions: Support antibiotic R&D; foreign aid budget cuts

"The framework for antibiotic discovery, development and approval is broken," Matthew Cooper of the University of Queensland and David Shales, former vice president at Wyeth Pharmaceuticals, write in a Nature comment, calling for "a sustained effort from government and industry to develop new drugs quickly."

8 Apr 2011