Tuberculosis News and Research

Latest Tuberculosis News and Research

GCRI, Max Planck Florida Institute to host discussion on TB at German House New York

The German Center for Research and Innovation, in cooperation with the Max Planck Florida Institute, will host a discussion on the treatments and challenges of tuberculosis on Thursday, March 31, from 7:00 to 9:00 p.m. The event will take place at the German House New York.

28 Mar 2011

U.S. TB cases reach all-time low, but eradication target missed, CDC says

"The number of tuberculosis cases in the United States reached an all-time low last year, with only 11,181 cases reported to public health authorities, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention," the Los Angeles Times' "Booster Shots" blog reports.

28 Mar 2011

EU supports new collaborative research projects on tuberculosis

It's March 24th again and the World Tuberculosis Day reminds us that for almost 50 years no new drugs have been developed against this terrible disease, which is currently killing nearly two million people worldwide each year. It's a global problem because the emergence of drug resistant strains of this infectious disease - normally associated with poverty - is a growing problem even in high-income economies.

25 Mar 2011

Financial Times, other media outlets highlight key issues in Global TB fight

In recognition of World Tuberculosis Day on Thursday, the Financial Times published a series of stories on TB worldwide.

25 Mar 2011

Opinions: Using taxes to reduce poverty; fighting TB; meeting global food demands

To improve living standards and create jobs," African governments "need to provide their citizens with better health care, better education, more infrastructure. How to pay for this - in a way that is both fair and efficient - is a question that all governments face," Mark Plant, deputy director of the IMF's African Department, writes in a BusinessDay opinion piece where he describes how increased tax revenues in several African countries have led to "in-roads into poverty reduction."

25 Mar 2011

WHO report urges countries to step up fight against drug-resistant TB

A WHO report released Wednesday says countries with the highest drug-resistant tuberculosis burdens are making progress in addressing the disease, "but despite the recent scale up in efforts, the world needs to do much more to get care to all [multi-drug resistant] patients who need it," WHO Director-General Margaret Chan said, Times LIVE reports.

24 Mar 2011

Department of Health acting Secretary stresses need to raise TB awareness

Department of Health acting Secretary Dr. Eli Avila today stressed the need to raise public awareness of tuberculosis, or TB, and the importance of efforts to control—and eventually eliminate—the infectious airborne disease.

24 Mar 2011

Physicians launch international advocacy campaign on TB

Physicians across the globe are coming together to advocate for a large, underrepresented patient population - those suffering from tuberculosis. On World TB Day, March 24th, a team of physician and researchers led by Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine's Tuberculosis Research Unit will nationally launch "I am TB," an international advocacy campaign aimed at reducing stigma among patients with TB and those at risk for the disease.

24 Mar 2011

ISEFC, TB Alliance to establish Global Health R&D Center of China

The International Scientific Exchange Foundation of China, a technical public foundation dedicated to promoting and advancing scientific development, cooperation, and exchange, today signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Global Alliance for TB Drug Development, to work together to establish the Global Health R&D Center of China, a world-class organization focused on developing innovative new treatments for public health diseases, including tuberculosis, malaria, and HIV/AIDS.

24 Mar 2011

Drug resistance tuberculosis concerns

According to a report released Wednesday, the World Health Organization revealed that drug resistant tuberculosis (TB) accounts for about 440,000 cases and 150,000 deaths worldwide each year. The WHO called for better diagnosis and more funding for treatment of the drug-resistant disease that's harder to cure.

23 Mar 2011

Researchers launch free online Atlas of TB vaccination policies around the world

Tuberculosis continues to pose a major global health threat. Someone in the world is newly infected with TB bacteria every second. Every year, more than 9 million people develop active TB and it claims about 2 million lives.

22 Mar 2011

Reports highlight global state of TB epidemic, concerns over drug-resistant TB

Increasing rates of multidrug-resistant tuberculosis "are hampering world health programs aimed at tackling TB and threaten to wipe out progress made against the disease, scientists said on Friday," Reuters reports (Kelland, 3/18).

19 Mar 2011

Researchers identify protein that triggers immune response in TB-infected people

Scientists have discovered a protein secreted by tuberculosis bacteria that could be a promising new vaccine candidate, they report today in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. The protein could also be used to improve diagnosis of TB.

19 Mar 2011

Opinions: TB funding; BBC World Service funding; direct cash transfer programs

"Prevention and control of tuberculosis on our globe is crumbling" and "[i]t needs fixing," retired pediatrician Elinor Graham writes in a Seattle Times opinion piece. She describes the burden of TB in developing countries and the costs associated with treatments, including those for drug-resistant forms of the disease.

18 Mar 2011

Anacor Pharma, MMV enter agreement to develop AN3661 for malaria treatment

Anacor Pharmaceuticals announced today that it has entered into a development agreement with Medicines for Malaria Venture to develop Anacor's compound AN3661 for the treatment of malaria.

18 Mar 2011

Global Fund taps former HHS Sec., former President of Botswana to lead external investigation of its financial controls

The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria on Tuesday named former HHS Secretary Michael Leavitt and former President of Botswana Festus Mogae to co-chair "an external review of its financial systems, amid heightened scrutiny from donors over misuse of some grants and a potential funding reduction from the U.S.," the Wall Street Journal reports.

17 Mar 2011

Experts to discuss work directions for fight against TB at ITM conference in Antwerp

On occasion of the World TB Day, leading experts from 12 countries will take stock of the fight against tuberculosis, during a conference at the Institute of Tropical Medicine in Antwerp.

17 Mar 2011

TB risk in infants exposed to infected health worker

Around 200 families have been exposed and probably infected with infectious Tuberculosis (TB) after a hospital health worker was diagnosed with the disease. At present the health care worker is off work and is receiving treatment. The hospital said there was no continuing risk to patients and staff.

16 Mar 2011

Biomagnetics Diagnostics initiates miniaturization process for optical biosensor platform

Biomagnetics Diagnostics Corp., a developer of revolutionary diagnostic systems and technology for HIV, hepatitis, tuberculosis and malaria detection, and other innovative technologies, today announced it has begun the process of miniaturizing the optical biosensor platform developed in cooperation with Los Alamos National Laboratory.

16 Mar 2011

New findings may open doors for vaccine development against HIV, tuberculosis

Alum is an adjuvant used in many common vaccines, and Canadian researchers have now discovered how it works. The research by scientists from the University of Calgary's Faculty of Medicine is published in the March 13 online edition of Nature Medicine.

15 Mar 2011