tuberculosis

Scientists have discovered that a bone infection is caused by a newly described species of bacteria that is related to the tuberculosis pathogen.

The discovery may help improve the diagnosis and treatment of similar infections, according to an article in the International Journal of Systematic and Evolutionary Microbiology.

Researchers have licensed ground-breaking research to a non-profit product development partnership working to develop new, more effective vaccines against tuberculosis.

This development will give hope that significantly better prevention and treatment of TB will be available within the next few years.

Inadequate treatment of antibiotic-resistant tuberculosis can leave patients highly infectious, and small numbers of such patients may drive transmission of the disease in the very health care facilities intended to treat it, according to research published in PLoS Medicine.

With annually 2 million deaths and 9 million new cases, there are more victims of tuberculosis than of any other infectious disease, apart from AIDS.

Worsening the situation, many strains of tuberculosis are so resistant that they no longer respond to traditional treatment, making the necessity of a new tuberculosis vaccine more urgent than ever.

For the first time in 80 years, a promising live tuberculosis vaccine has reached the clinical trial stage in Germany.

While humans obtain iron primarily through the food they eat, bacteria have evolved complex and diverse mechanisms to allow them access to iron.

Scientists have discovered that some bacteria are equipped with a gene that enables them to harvest iron from their environment or human host in a unique and energy efficient manner.This discovery could provide researchers with new ways to target such diseases as tuberculosis.

The primary bacteria behind tuberculosis can grow on surfaces and that drug-tolerant strains flourish in these bacterial communities, according to new research in Molecular Microbiology.

The findings suggest a possible reason why human tuberculosis requires months of intensive antibiotic treatment and indicate a potential cause of the relapses that can nonetheless occur.

A new survey cautions physicians that drugs commonly prescribed for patients suffering from immunological disorders such as rheumatoid arthritis and inflammatory bowel disease may carry risks of serious infections other than the known risk of tuberculosis.

New findings show a link between micronutrient supplementation and reduced risk of recurrence during tuberculosis chemotherapy, according to a new study.

A diagnostic kit shows new promise for distinguishing between tuberculosis and its infections from disease caused by related mycobacteria family, which mimic TB and other lung disease in symptoms but require distinctly different clinical treatments.

Researchers working in Vietnam have identified a genetic variant that predisposes people to developing a lethal form of tuberculosis, tuberculous meningitis, if they are infected with a strain of TB known as the Beijing strain.

The work underlines the importance of studying both sides of the complex host-pathogen interaction and its role in susceptibility to disease.