Tuberculosis News and Research

Latest Tuberculosis News and Research

Some HIV-positive Ugandans' not receiving antiretrovirals

Some HIV-positive people in Uganda "cannot be put on the national antiretroviral [ARV] programme because it is already saturated and funds for new patients are not available," the Independent reports. According to the newspaper, roughly 360,000 HIV-positive Ugandans are eligible for antiretroviral treatment because their CD4 counts are below the WHO's threshold of 350; however, about half of them currently do not have access to ARVs.

20 Aug 2009

Newly joined Vice President to provide leadership for IAVI's fundraising strategy

Dianne Stewart, former head of Board and Donor relations at the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, has joined the International AIDS Vaccine Initiative (IAVI) as Vice President of Resource Development. In her role at IAVI, Ms. Stewart will provide leadership for the organization’s fundraising strategy focused on both the public and private sectors.

20 Aug 2009

Global Fund awards Tanzania $111 million grant for ITNs

Tanzania will receive an $111 million grant from the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria for insecticide-treated nets (ITNs) to be used in the country's fight against malaria, Ray Chambers, U.N. special envoy for malaria, said at a meeting in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, on Monday, Reuters reports.

19 Aug 2009

Opinion: Chronic disease in Africa; education can help combat disease; climate change and health; TB vaccine

"An epidemic of chronic, non-communicable diseases such as heart disease, mental illness, cancer, diabetes, and obesity is growing in Africa, a continent still struggling with infectious and nutritional diseases," according to a Boston Globe opinion piece by Michelle Holmes and Shona Dalal.

18 Aug 2009

GSK starts testing H1N1 vaccine; Opinion piece addresses U.S. role in helping developing countries procure vaccine

"GlaxoSmithKline has started testing its pandemic H1N1 swine flu vaccine in humans, and expects to start giving the results to government agencies next month, the drugmaker said on Friday," Reuters reports. The company "plans to conduct 16 different trials of the vaccine and to test 9,000 people in total across Europe, Canada and the United States," according to the news service (Deighton, 8/14).

17 Aug 2009

New microneedle-based injection device from Nanopass

Following the World Health Organization (WHO) declaration of a swine flu pandemic, NanoPass Technologies Ltd. (NanoPass) announced today that it has successfully developed a microneedle-based injection device that could dramatically enhance both the effectiveness and supply of pandemic flu vaccines.

14 Aug 2009

HIV/AIDS funding, treatment standards, empowering women addressed at ICAAP

Funding to fight the spread of HIV/AIDS in Asia and the Pacific has fallen short of the demand, and the majority of available money has missed reaching those at highest risk -- Swarup Sarkar, director of Asia unit for the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria -- said during a session at the 9th International Congress on AIDS in Asia and the Pacific (ICAAP) in Bali, Indonesia, the Jakarta Post reports.

13 Aug 2009

Health officials gather in South Africa to discuss H1N1 in Africa

On Tuesday, South African Health Minister Aaron Motsoaledi cautioned that Africa might be hit harder by H1N1 (swine) flu than other parts of the world, the Associated Press reports (8/11).

12 Aug 2009

Global Fund Director says G20 can become donor nations

Reuters examines Global Fund to Fight HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria Executive Director Michel Kazatchkine's recent comments on the sidelines of the 9th International Conference on AIDS in Asia and the Pacific (ICAAP), that some emerging nations should consider becoming donor nations.

12 Aug 2009

Drug-resistant tuberculosis can apread as easily as drug-sensitive tuberculosis, study says

New research has found that drug-resistant strains of tuberculosis are just as likely to be transmitted between people as drug-sensitive TB, which could make drug-resistant forms of the disease "highly prevalent in the next few decades," the Australian Associated Press/Sydney Morning Herald reports (Rose, 8/11).

11 Aug 2009

High-fat diet affects physical and memory abilities of rats after 9 days

Rats fed a high-fat diet show a stark reduction in their physical endurance and a decline in their cognitive ability after just nine days, a study by Oxford University researchers has shown.

11 Aug 2009

UNAIDS report says 50 million women in Asia at risk of HIV infection from intimate partners

A UNAIDS report released Tuesday at the 9th International Congress on AIDS in Asia and the Pacific (ICAAP) in Bali, Indonesia, estimates that more than 90 percent of the 1.7 million HIV-positive women living in Asia were infected by husbands or long-term partners who engaged in "high-risk sexual behaviours," Agence France-Presse reports. The UNAIDS report also found "women accounted for 35 percent of all adult HIV infections in Asia in 2008, up from 17 percent in 1990, the AFP writes.

11 Aug 2009

Widespread general use of fluoroquinolones is creating drug-resistant tuberculosis

Use of a common antibiotic may be undercutting its utility as a first-line defense against drug-resistant tuberculosis (TB). Fluoroquinolones are the most commonly prescribed class of antibiotics in the U.S. and are used to fight a number of different infections such as sinusitis and pneumonia. They are also an effective first line of defense against TB infections that show drug resistance. New research shows, however, that widespread general use of fluoroquinolones may be creating a strain of fluoroquinolone-resistant TB.

11 Aug 2009

Global Fund awards Zimbabwe $37.9 million to fight diseases

The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria on Friday awarded Zimbabwe $37.9 million to help fight the three diseases, "and in an unusual move handed the money directly to the new unity government," the Associated Press reports.

10 Aug 2009

Clinton Foundation reaches deal with Matrix, Pfizer to cut prices for second-line Arvs, TB drug

Former President Bill Clinton on Thursday announced deals with drugmakers Matrix Laboratories and Pfizer to lower the cost of medications to treat patients with drug-resistant forms of HIV/AIDS in the developing world, Reuters reports (Honan, 8/6).

7 Aug 2009

TB alliance appoints Marshall Burke as the organization's Head of External Affairs

The Global Alliance for TB Drug Development (TB Alliance), a not-for-profit product development partnership accelerating the discovery and development of new drugs to fight tuberculosis (TB), today announced the appointment of Marshall Burke, Ph.D. as the organization's Head of External Affairs.

7 Aug 2009

Bill Clinton, Pfizer, and Mylan announce new agreements to lower prices of antiretrovirals for HIV/AIDS in the developing world

President Bill Clinton announced two important and complementary agreements today to enable better, more affordable treatments for patients on second-line antiretroviral (ARV) therapy for HIV/AIDS in the developing world.

6 Aug 2009

Automated network could predict disease outbreaks that originate in animals

The AP/San Francisco Chronicle examines Los Alamos National Laboratory researchers' efforts to create an automated network to monitor animals in an effort to predict disease outbreaks because two out of every three human diseases "originated in animals."

6 Aug 2009

Plague in China; U.S. contribution to clean water initiatives; TB vaccine trial; HIV in Mozambique; New HIV strain

A third person died of pneumonic plague in China on Monday, local health authorities said, Xinhua reports. The outbreak began on July 30 and an additional nine people in the town of Ziketan are reportedly ill (8/3). "Pneumonic plague, which attacks the lungs, is closely related to bubonic plague," writes the New York Times.

4 Aug 2009

Tuberculosis drugs under development could have large impact on the disease

The latest drug regimens, vaccines and diagnostic tools under development to combat tuberculosis could have a potentially large impact on the disease once they become available, according to research findings published in the Aug. 3 early edition online of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

4 Aug 2009

Tuberculosis News and Research

Latest Tuberculosis News and Research

Some HIV-positive Ugandans' not receiving antiretrovirals

Newly joined Vice President to provide leadership for IAVI's fundraising strategy

Global Fund awards Tanzania $111 million grant for ITNs

Opinion: Chronic disease in Africa; education can help combat disease; climate change and health; TB vaccine

GSK starts testing H1N1 vaccine; Opinion piece addresses U.S. role in helping developing countries procure vaccine

New microneedle-based injection device from Nanopass

HIV/AIDS funding, treatment standards, empowering women addressed at ICAAP

Health officials gather in South Africa to discuss H1N1 in Africa

Global Fund Director says G20 can become donor nations

Drug-resistant tuberculosis can apread as easily as drug-sensitive tuberculosis, study says

High-fat diet affects physical and memory abilities of rats after 9 days

UNAIDS report says 50 million women in Asia at risk of HIV infection from intimate partners

Widespread general use of fluoroquinolones is creating drug-resistant tuberculosis

Global Fund awards Zimbabwe $37.9 million to fight diseases

Clinton Foundation reaches deal with Matrix, Pfizer to cut prices for second-line Arvs, TB drug

TB alliance appoints Marshall Burke as the organization's Head of External Affairs

Bill Clinton, Pfizer, and Mylan announce new agreements to lower prices of antiretrovirals for HIV/AIDS in the developing world

Automated network could predict disease outbreaks that originate in animals

Plague in China; U.S. contribution to clean water initiatives; TB vaccine trial; HIV in Mozambique; New HIV strain

Tuberculosis drugs under development could have large impact on the disease

Revolutionizing Life Science: An Interview with SCIEX on ASMS, the SCIEX 7500+ System, and AI-Driven Quantitation

From Discovery Biology to ELRIG Chair

Breathing New Life into Diagnostics: Plasmion's SICRIT Technology

Tuberculosis News and Research

Latest Tuberculosis News and Research

Revolutionizing Life Science: An Interview with SCIEX on ASMS, the SCIEX 7500+ System, and AI-Driven Quantitation

From Discovery Biology to ELRIG Chair

Breathing New Life into Diagnostics: Plasmion's SICRIT Technology

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