Tuberculosis News and Research

Latest Tuberculosis News and Research

Promising new tuberculosis drug given special status

Approximately one-third of the world's population is infected with Mycobacterium tuberculosis, the bacterium that causes TB, and an estimated 1.6 million people died of the disease in 2005.

25 Oct 2007

5% of MRSA patients in U.S. died

One of every 20 (or 5 percent) of the roughly 368,600 patients treated in U.S. hospitals in 2005 for Methicillin-resistant staphylococcus aureus, or MRSA, died, according to the latest News and Numbers from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality.

25 Oct 2007

Infliximab scheduled treatment has proven to be an effective strategy in IBD patients

Crohn's disease (CD) and ulcerative colitis (UC) are chronic-relapsing diseases, the clinical courses of which are characterized by periods of remission and periods of acute flare up, determining clinical symptoms which have a strong impact on the quality of life for patients.

25 Oct 2007

French clay fights flesh-eating bug

French clay that kills several kinds of disease-causing bacteria is at the forefront of new research into age-old, nearly forgotten, but surprisingly potent cures.

25 Oct 2007

One sniff may clear away that awful phobia!

Scientists from the University of New South Wales, Sydney, have found that a simple nasal spray may help people deal with irrational fears.

23 Oct 2007

Anti-tuberculosis program in South Africa may have inadvertently helped create new strain of XDR TB

In a new study published in the December 1 issue of Clinical Infectious Diseases, currently available online, researchers tracked the developing drug resistance of one particular strain of Mycobacterium tuberculosis over 12 years.

22 Oct 2007

Preventing tuberculosis reactivation

Tuberculosis (TB) is the leading cause of death due to infectious disease in the world today.

19 Oct 2007

New model helps explain rules governing the transmission of microbes

Many of the most successful microbes are those that inhabit but do not kill their host. Cheaters lose. Tuberculosis settles into the lungs. Helicobacter pylori, the microbe causing ulcers, burrows into the stomach where it thrives on acids. And Salmonella typhi takes up residence in the gallbladder. All of these organisms can persist in our bodies for decades. What explains their success?

18 Oct 2007

TB man forcibly detained in British hospital

A man is being detained in a hospital in Manchester, England in order to prevent him spreading tuberculosis (TB) to other people.

10 Oct 2007

TB patient jailed in the U.S flees 'abuse' for safety of Russia

A tuberculosis patient, confined in a hospital jail ward in Arizona since August 2006 has fled the country apparently because he could no longer tolerate the abuse metered out to him.

9 Oct 2007

Joint effort means 750,000 of the world's poor will have acess to TB drugs

Thanks to a partnership between the World Health Organisation (WHO) and an international initiative, anti-tuberculosis drugs will now be available to people in poor countries.

8 Oct 2007

Deep-frozen HIV specimens

The development of an HIV vaccine is hindered by the rapidity with which the virus mutates.

8 Oct 2007

Gates Foundation leads the charge against tuberculosis with Northeastern University

Northeastern University announced that Dr. Kim Lewis, Professor of Biology and Director of the Antimicrobial Center, is among the recipients of $280 million in grants the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation has dedicated to help support the research and speed the development of TB vaccines, diagnostic tests, and treatments.

4 Oct 2007

Infectious Diseases Society of America strongly supports the STAAR Act

With extensively drug-resistant tuberculosis, life-threatening drug-resistant respiratory and skin infections, and other "bad bugs" routinely making headlines, infectious diseases physicians are applauding Rep. Jim Matheson (D-UT) and Rep. Michael Ferguson (R-NJ) for introducing H.R. 3697, the Strategies To Address Antimicrobial Resistance (STAAR) Act.

29 Sep 2007

CDC awards $35 million to increase HIV testing opportunities

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has awarded $35 million in funding to state and local health departments to increase HIV testing opportunities among populations disproportionately affected by HIV, primarily African Americans.

27 Sep 2007

Study helps determine best treatment for bladder cancer

Cancer specialists and researchers at Princess Margaret Hospital, University Health Network (UHN), are tackling an ongoing controversy about the best way to treat an aggressive form of bladder cancer – immediate radical surgery or a more conservative initial approach using immunotherapy?

25 Sep 2007

Clostridium difficile could outstrip MRSA in Irish hospitals

Research findings on a bug which is a major threat to hospital patients and particularly elderly patients, which could outstrip MRSA, will be presented to the Irish Society for Immunology (ISI) Annual Conference at Dublin City University.

24 Sep 2007

FDA warns consumers not to consume Organic Pastures raw cream

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is warning consumers not to drink or consume raw (unpasteurized) cream labeled as "ORGANIC PASTURES Grade A RAW CREAM" in one-pint plastic bottles coded "SEP 14" through "SEP 21."

24 Sep 2007

Gates Foundation digs down deep for TB

The fight against the global tuberculosis (TB) epidemic has received a huge boost in the form of a $280 million grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

20 Sep 2007

Moxifloxacin drug combo speeds up treatment of tuberculosis

A team of tuberculosis (TB) experts at Johns Hopkins and in Brazil have evidence that substituting the antibiotic moxifloxacin in the regimen of drugs used to treat the highly contagious form of lung disease could dramatically shorten the time needed to cure the illness from six months to four.

18 Sep 2007