Tag: tuberculosis

Researchers at the Francis Crick Institute working with collaborators at the University of Leicester have identified how gene expression changes during different stages of tuberculosis (TB), including early after infection before any symptoms are clinically detectable. These changes provided information about the host immune response which could help the development of therapies against TB. The

As the UK marks one year since the country went into lockdown, we’ve also been looking further afield to countries disproportionately burdened by infectious diseases, including COVID-19. To mark this year’s World TB Day, we spoke to Robert Wilkinson, head of the Crick’s Tuberculosis Laboratory, about his team’s work in Africa, understanding the links between

A century-old tuberculosis vaccine may play a role in reducing death due to Covid-19 infection, a preliminary study has suggested. Researchers from the US-based the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases of the National Institutes of Health made the link to Bacille Calmette-Guerin, or BCG, after comparing data on Covid-19 mortality rates across the

Scientists studying scarlet fever have identified a new strain of disease-causing bacteria, which may explain a rise in more serious Strep A infections in England and Wales, according to results from cases in London and across England and Wales from 2014-16 published in The Lancet Infectious Diseases journal. In 2014, England experienced the biggest surge

There is only one existing vaccine for TB and it is not effective in adults. Researchers at the Centenary Institute and University of Sydney will next test their new vaccine in clinical trials with humans. Australian medical researchers from the Centenary Institute and the University of Sydney have successfully developed and tested on mice a

Research presented at the Society of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging’s 2019 Annual Meeting shows that molecular imaging with 18F-FDG positron emission tomography/computed tomography (PET/CT) can evaluate tuberculosis at the molecular level, effectively identifying diseased areas and guiding treatment for patients. According to the World Health Association, tuberculosis is one of the top 10 causes

A ‘superbug’ clone of E. coli has evolved to prevent itself from becoming so dominant that it could potentially wipe out the bacteria from existence, scientists led by the University of Birmingham have discovered. The researchers investigated how and why a clone of E. coli called ST131 — dubbed a ‘superbug’ because it is resistant

This week, publication of a special issue on tuberculosis (TB) begins in PLOS Medicine, advised by guest editors Richard Chaisson of Johns Hopkins University, Claudia Denkinger of the University of Heidelberg, and Mark Hatherill of the South African Tuberculosis Vaccine Institute. An estimated 10 million people developed tuberculosis (TB) and 1.6 million died of TB

Tuberculosis (TB) is the leading cause of death in the world from a single infectious disease, causing more deaths than HIV/AIDS. In 2017, 10 million people developed TB disease globally and an estimated 1.6 million died. One of the biggest blocks to beating the epidemic is the growing resistance to drugs that have previously cured

India has the highest TB burden in the world, but in Kerala, the incidence is already down to 44 cases per 1,00,000 population. Kerala has started an ambitious plan to eliminate tuberculosis — if it succeeds, it will be the first state in the country to do so. India has the highest TB burden in

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

Many South Asian immigrants from countries where tuberculosis (TB) is common do not get tested even though they are at high risk for developing the disease, according to a recent study by Rutgers University and St. Peter’s University Hospital. Tuberculosis, which mainly affects the lungs, kills more people worldwide—about 1.6 million—than any other single infectious

In a new study published in the Journal of Experimental Medicine, scientists at the University of Notre Dame have discovered that the pathogen Mycobacterium tuberculosis (MTB) releases RNA into infected cells. This RNA stimulates the production of a compound known as interferon beta that appears to support the growth of the pathogen. As part of

Tuberculosis (TB) is the leading cause of death worldwide from infectious disease. About 2 billion people are infected with the bacteria that cause TB, and just under 2 million die from it every year. In the wealthy nations that fund most biomedical research, though, TB is rare – the U.S. reported fewer than 10,000 cases in

Group A Streptococcus (GAS), sometimes known as “flesh-eating bacteria,” causes invasive infections that result in high mortality. GAS is susceptible to many antibiotics, but continues to cause devastating infections. Many studies have attempted to understand the mechanism for immune recognition of GAS; none has provided a clear explanation, until now. In a new study published

A new study identified a significant association between HIV infection and complexities of treating patients with tuberculosis coinfection. Patients with HIV were more likely to have more tuberculosis drug-related adverse events, more hospital readmissions, and longer tuberculosis treatment duration, as reported in AIDS Research and Human Retroviruses, a peer-reviewed journal from Mary Ann Liebert, Inc.,

Tuberculosis is a sneaky disease. The bacteria hide from antibiotics inside the very immune cells that are supposed to kill them, making treatment long and difficult. But in the November issue of ACS Infectious Diseases, UConn chemists report a new antibiotic that can find and kill tuberculosis bacteria where they hide. Tuberculosis is the number

Tuberculosis remains the most lethal of infectious diseases worldwide, killing more than 1.6 million people a year. But researchers say a new vaccine might prevent half of full-blown illnesses in infected people who receive the shot. “We found that the incidence of pulmonary tuberculosis was significantly lower” for people who got the experimental vaccine, called

Governments from around the world will gather Wednesday to discuss the persistent scourge of tuberculosis, which last year claimed more lives than any other communicable disease. About 1.3 million people worldwide died of TB in 2017. A further 300,000 people with both HIV and TB died in last year, according to World Health Organization figures

Insights into how harmful white blood cells form during tuberculosis infection point to novel targets for pharmacological interventions, according to a study published in the open-access journal PLOS Pathogens by Valentina Guerrini and Maria Laura Gennaro of Rutgers New Jersey Medical School, and colleagues. Foam cells are a type of white blood cell, known as