by Patrick GALEY Agence France Presse PARIS, France (AFP) — The global lockdown caused by COVID-19 risks a “devastating” surge in tuberculosis cases, with nearly 1.4 million additional deaths from the world’s biggest infectious killer by 2025, new research showed Wednesday. TB, a bacterial infection that normally attacks patients’ lungs, is largely treatable yet still infects an estimated 10 million people every year. In 2018, it killed around 1.5 million people, according to the World […]
Tag: TB
Researchers move closer to new vaccine for killer TB
by Glenda KWEK Agence France Presse HYDERABAD, India (AFP) — Scientists said Tuesday they are closing in on a new game-changing vaccine for tuberculosis, the world’s deadliest infectious disease that claimed some 1.5 million lives last year. A chronic lung disease that is curable, TB was one of the top 10 killers worldwide last year, particularly in developing countries. The existing Bacille-Calmette-Guerin (BCG) vaccine — licensed for humans in 1921 — is only proven […]
Resistance risk for new TB drugs: experts
PARIS, France (AFP) — New drugs for hard-to-treat tuberculosis strains may be fast rendered ineffective themselves if incorrectly used, a report warned Thursday, on the eve of World TB Day. Antibiotics such as bedaquiline, delamanid and linezolid have recently been added to the tuberculosis drug arsenal, which is dwindling as TB bacteria develop resistance to an ever-broader array of treatments. Much better control must be exercised over how these new drugs are prescribed and used, […]
Poor diagnosis driving global multidrug-resistant TB, WHO warns
(Reuters) – Half a million people fell sick with dangerous superbug strains of tuberculosis (TB) in 2012, but fewer than one in four were diagnosed, putting the rest at risk of dying due to the wrong medicines or no treatment at all. Latest data from the World Health Organisation (WHO), which says drug-resistant TB is a “global health security risk”, showed a third of the estimated 9 million people who contract TB in any form […]





