New data released by the Treatment Action Group (TAG) and the Stop TB Partnership finds that in 2010 the world spent just $617 million in tuberculosis (TB) research and development (R&D), or 0.3% less than 2009 funding levels - the first time TAG documents no growth since it began tracking TB research investments in 2005.

WHO's Stop TB Department has published new recommendations related to the use of TB Interferon-Gamma Release Assays (IGRAs) as a replacement of the tuberculin skin test (TST) to detect latent TB in low- and middle-income countries (the recommendations are not intended for high-income countries or to supersede existing national guidelines in these countries).

The standard TB regimen is a six month course of antibiotics but the duration and drugs used may vary according to a patient’s age, type of TB infection, and whether they have been treated before.  Treating TB takes longer than treating other types of bacterial infections because the bacteria that cause TB grow slowly, and die slowly.  The standard six month course of treatment consists of two phases.  The first phase lasts two months and is called the intensive phase.  The second phase lasts four months and is called the continuous phase.

This is a very useful quick reference guide to first and second-line TB drugs from the WRHI.

Statement by the Treatment Action Campaign, the HIV Clinicians Society of Southern Africa, Médecins Sans Frontières, SECTION27 (incorporating the AIDS Law Project), HIV i-Base, Wits Reproductive Health and HIV Institute (WRHI), Jhpiego and the Centre for the AIDS Programme of Research in South Africa (CAPRISA)