
Release of Part 1 of EXPOSED scheduled for the week of May 20. EXPOSED is a four-part series of short films that tell the story of the deadly global epidemic of tuberculosis. The series will portray the struggles of four inspiring individuals – an MDR-TB survivor, a TB doctor, a clinical trial volunteer, and a TB vaccine researcher – bringing viewers to the forefront of the race against tuberculosis.
This week we have an article by researchers from Portugal that suggests that in the case of resistance conferred by plasmids that in some cases resistant bacteria increases its ability to replicate and overall fitness compared to susceptible bacteria. This may complicate research and control efforts to address the rising problem of multi-drug resistance. Additional links to TB R&D News are included.
This week’s featured article from Bill Jacob’s lab looks at novel InhA (target of isoniazid (INH), a first-line TB drug) inhibitors and their ability to kill M. tuberculosis (M.tb) that is drug-sensitive, resistant and in dormant stage. Two compounds were identified that had significant bactericidal activity against M.tb: CD 39 and CD117. Additional links to TB R&D News are included.
In the July 7 issue of the New England Journal, two articles and an editorial on latent TB and TB prevention are published. One study discusses positive results on a treatment for latent TB in HIV-infected persons. The other study discusses negative findings that isoniazid is not effective in latent treatment of tuberculosis in children regardless of HIV status. A link to MedPage Today is included that provides a good overview of these studies and the editorial. Additional TB R&D News Links also are included.
In this week’s TB R&D update, we look at the potential effects of the inclusion of fluoroquinolones as first line treatment for pneumonia on TB treament. The article is published in the March issue of International Journal of Infectious Diseases and is entitled “Fluoroquinolones are associated with delayed treatment and resistance in tuberculosis: a systematic review and meta-analysis.” Also, links to additional news in TB R&D are included.