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This Week in TB R&D – 04 May 2010
Over the last month, a few reports about new positive TB cases have surfaced from FL, involving a couple high schools and a college. Information was not made available as to how the original infected TB individuals contracted TB. Furthermore, it is not clear whether any of the newly identified TB positive individuals have developed active TB or latent TB (LTBI) since the diagnoses used the skin test, which only reveals exposure to TB.
Even LTBI treatment raises questions, however, particularly if it were to spread quickly through a close-knit population such as a high school.
New Vaccines Against Tuberculosis Needed for Prevention and Control
Only one vaccine against tuberculosis (TB) now exists, bacille Calmette Guérin (BCG), which confers incomplete protection against the disease. BCG has shown a certain amount of success against childhood TB meningitis and military TB, but it has shown little to no efficacy against adult pulmonary TB and even goes so far as to cause disease in HIV infected infants.
New Edition of WHO TB Treatment Guidelines
The World Health Organization’s Stop TB Department has published the fourth edition of Treatment of Tuberculosis: Guidelines. The guidelines contain a number of new recommendations, including a call to discontinue regimens based on just two months of rifampicin (2HRZE/6HE).
May 2010 issue of IJTLD now available online
The International Journal of Tuberculosis and Lung Disease (IJTLD) is the official publication of the International Union Against Tuberculosis and Lung Disease (The Union). The latest issue (May 2010) is now available online.
Funding a Global Health Fund
The fund that fights killer diseases such as TB and Aids needs to build on its success, but it is facing a fiscal crisis. World leaders will come together at the United Nations in September in order to accelerate progress towards the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). Three of the eight MDGs involve bringing primary health services to the entire world’s population. A small amount of global funding, if well directed, could save millions of lives each year. The key step is to expand the Global Fund to Fight Aids, Tuberculosis, and Malaria into a Global Health Fund.
WHO Releases New MDR/XDR Report
In some areas of the world, one in four people with tuberculosis (TB) becomes ill with a form of the disease that can no longer be treated with standard drugs regimens, a World Health Organization (WHO) report says.
For example, 28% of all people newly diagnosed with TB in one region of north western Russia had the multidrug-resistant form of the disease (MDR-TB) in 2008. This is the highest level ever reported to WHO. Previously, the highest recorded level was 22% in Baku City, Azerbaijan, in 2007.
Free World TB Day Resources for African TB/HIV Advocates
African HIV Policy Network (AHPN), together with TB Alert, the UK’s national tuberculosis charity, is encouraging black African organisations to get involved in World TB Day, and is offering free resources and materials. TB Alert has just launched a new awareness campaign, “The Truth About TB”, with funding from the Department of Health. TB remains a crucial health issue, with over 8,000 people in the UK developing the illness each year. “With World TB Day coming up on 24th March, it’s a great time to increase awareness about TB”, says Elias Phiri, Head of Awareness Programmes at TB Alert.
Aren’t These Lives Worth Saving, Too?
In recent weeks, U.S.-based global health advocates have been scrutinizing and providing public comments on the recently released draft strategy of the President’s Global Health Initiative (GHI), which rightly expands the US government’s global health policy to address several key areas that were neglected in recent years. However, although tuberculosis kills almost two million people each year, the GHI – more accurately, what’s not in the GHI – suggests that TB is just not a priority for the Administration.
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You are currently browsing the archives for the TB Prevention and Control Strategies category.
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Toppix TB News- Isoniazid resistance and death in patients with tuberculous meningitis: retrospective cohort study. 8 Sep 2010
- Global Fund needs U.S. support 8 Sep 2010
- New park memorializes ORC 7 Sep 2010
- Experimental TB test called fast, accurate 7 Sep 2010
- People with diabetes up to 2-3 times higher risk of TB 7 Sep 2010
