Tuberculosis News and Research

Latest Tuberculosis News and Research

Obesity drives one in ten infectious disease deaths

Just over one in 10 deaths from a wide range of infectious diseases can be attributed to obesity worldwide, finds a major new study led by a University College London (UCL) researcher.

9 Feb 2026

Early tuberculosis treatment reduces sepsis deaths in HIV patients

Sepsis is a leading global cause of hospital deaths, occurring when the body's response to infection damages tissue and causes organs to fail. Africa bears the world's highest burden of sepsis, with an estimated 48 million cases each year leading to about 11 million deaths.

7 Feb 2026

Early TB treatment before sepsis diagnosis could save countless lives

Tuberculosis (TB) is a major unrecognized cause of deadly sepsis among people with HIV in Africa, a sweeping new study reveals. Beginning treatment for TB immediately – even before sepsis patients are diagnosed with TB – could save countless lives, the researchers say.

30 Jan 2026

Immune dysfunction persists after combined TB and HIV therapy

The immune system remains seriously out-of-whack – in an inflammatory state of overactivation and impaired functionality – following the international gold standard for treating people with latent tuberculosis (TB) and HIV, a team at Texas Biomedical Research Institute reports in Nature Communications.

14 Jan 2026

Age-tailored therapies needed for treating the young and old with sepsis

Dealing with an infection isn't as straightforward as simply killing the pathogen. The body also needs to carefully steer and monitor its immune response to prevent collateral damage.

14 Jan 2026

Study reveals how tuberculosis exploits immune defenses to promote infection

Scientists have made a discovery that helps explain why humans and animals are so susceptible to contracting tuberculosis(TB) – and it involves the bacteria harnessing part of the immune system meant to protect against infection.

9 Jan 2026

Key protein in the tuberculosis bacterium helps protect itself from foreign DNA

Researchers at the Indian Institute of Science (IISc), with collaborators from the Institute of Mathematical Sciences (IMSc), have discovered how a key protein in the tuberculosis bacterium helps protect it from the influence of foreign DNA inserted into its genome.

9 Jan 2026

New method measures how effectively antibiotics kill bacteria

Drugs that act against bacteria are mainly assessed based on how well they inhibit bacterial growth under laboratory conditions.

9 Jan 2026

Biodegradable pill improves medication adherence monitoring

In an advance that could help ensure people are taking their medication on schedule, MIT engineers have designed a pill that can report when it has been swallowed.

8 Jan 2026

First human 'lung-on-chip' model developed using stem cells from a single donor

Researchers at the Francis Crick Institute and AlveoliX have developed the first human 'lung-on-chip' model using stem cells taken from only one person.

2 Jan 2026

Digital patient records improve survival in HIV treatment clinics

With 9.5% of its population estimated to be HIV-positive in 2019, Malawi has one of the highest rates of HIV prevalence in the world.

22 Dec 2025

High-dose rifampicin does not improve survival in tuberculosis meningitis

Each year, 11 million people worldwide develop tuberculosis, and about 1.4 million die from it. Meningitis occurs in 1–2% of patients and is the most severe complication of tuberculosis, arising when the bacteria reach the brain.

17 Dec 2025

Canada's reduced Global Fund pledge threatens health at home and abroad

Canada should rethink its reduced pledge to the Global Fund to protect the health of people in Canada as well as around the globe, argue authors in an editorial published in CMAJ.

15 Dec 2025

Hidden infections may play a key role in driving long COVID symptoms

For millions suffering from long COVID, their persistent breathlessness, brain fog and fatigue remain a maddening mystery, but a group of leading microbiologists think they may have cracked the case.

10 Dec 2025

Sweat testing could transform drug monitoring and diabetes care

Innovative sweat sampling techniques could revolutionize diagnostics, offering insights into glucose levels and environmental toxins with minimal discomfort.

4 Dec 2025

New analysis reveals fundamental flaws in widely used measures of biological aging

A landmark review published today in Genomic Psychiatry challenges researchers to fundamentally reconsider how the field measures and conceptualizes biological aging.

3 Dec 2025

Nasal bacteria influence Staphylococcus aureus colonization

People who persistently carry Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus) in their nose have fewer species of other bacteria, while certain bacteria may help to prevent S. aureus colonisation.

2 Dec 2025

WHO urges action to end the AIDS epidemic

On World AIDS Day, the World Health Organization (WHO) calls on governments and partners to rapidly expand access to new WHO-approved tools including lenacapavir (LEN) to drive down infections and counter disruption to essential health services caused by cuts to foreign aid.

2 Dec 2025

New AI tools offer hope for global TB elimination

Researchers have unveiled new AI tools, from smartphone cough analysis to child-friendly screening systems, which could transform how tuberculosis is detected, monitored and prevented.

1 Dec 2025

Rapid point-of-care test shows promise for detecting latent tuberculosis

A new test shows promising results for detecting latent tuberculosis infection in resource-limited settings. This is according to a study from Karolinska Institutet, published in the journal Clinical Infectious Diseases.

27 Nov 2025