Johnson & Johnson has tripled its commitment on tuberculosis drug Bedaquiline by offering 90,000 doseages to its global donation programme that ends in March, Paul Stoffels, J&J’s Vice-Chair of the Executive Committee and Chief Scientific Officer, said, on a programme that has given medicines to India as well.

Dr Adebola Lawanson, the National Coordinator, National Tuberculosis Buruli Ulcer and Leprosy Control Programme, has disclosed that out of every estimated 100 persons with TB, only 24 are detected in Nigeria.

-- India has shown remarkable leadership in acknowledging that there is a big problem with TB
-- India is critically important to the global fight against diseases, but particularly TB

ANN ARBOR—New diagnostic tools such as machine learning and precision medicine could help identify tuberculosis patients with the highest risk of reactivation of the disease, according to a new University of Michigan study.

PITTSBURGH – A high proportion of multidrug-resistant tuberculosis (TB) cases can be cured in conflict-affected communities with molecular diagnostics, shorter treatment periods and socioeconomic incentives, according to the results of a large, long-term study in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) led by the University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Public Health and Stellenbosch Universityin South Africa, in collaboration with the DRC National Tuberculosis Program.

Scarring caused by bacillus Calmette-Guérin, or BCG, vaccine in both mothers and infants was associated with a significant decrease in infant mortality, according to findings from a randomized controlled trial published in the Journal of the Pediatric Infectious Diseases Society. The researchers wrote that the effect of the tuberculosis vaccine on mortality was not as strong when only the child had scarring.

A team of physicists from Immanuel Kant Baltic State University have suggested a method to identify single antibiotic-resistant tuberculosis-causing bacteria. The new method detects the bacteria and evaluates their resistance to antibiotics without damaging the biological sample. The results of the first trial of the method were published in Data in Brief.

Diseases that have plagued humanity since ancient times continue to hold billions of people back, and tuberculosis is one of the most significant among them. Today, there are an estimated 10-million-plus new TB cases each year, and the disease causes more than 1.6 million deaths, earning it the dubious honor of being the world’s number one infectious killer. 

Aidspan: Global Fund Observer

Washington, DC - February 11, 2019 - A new experimental antibiotic for tuberculosis has been shown to be more effective against TB than isoniazid, a decades-old drug which is currently one of the standard treatments. In mouse studies, the new drug showed a much lower tendency to develop resistance, and it remains in the tissues where the Mycobacterium tuberculosis bacteria reside for longer, killing them more effectively. The research is published February 11 in Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy, a journal of the American Society for Microbiology.