New study to improve tuberculosis treatments
The University of Southampton has been awarded $1.4 million (approximately £833,260) to develop new treatments to fight tuberculosis.
Tuberculosis is a bacterial infection spread through inhaling
tiny droplets generated from the coughing of an infected person.
It primarily affects the lungs and spreads from person to person
by causing cavities within lung tissue. It is a serious
condition but can be cured with proper treatment. In 2012, it
claimed 1.3 million lives, the vast majority of them in low- and
middle-income countries.
Patients with lung cavities
are at much greater risk of developing drug-resistance disease,
which is a worsening global phenomenon and has resulted in the
emergence of untreatable totally drug-resistant strains.
The University of Southampton Tuberculosis Research
Group will use the funding from the US National Institutes of
Health to develop new treatments to improve outcomes in patients
with the disease.
Researchers will investigate
inhibition of the enzymes that cause lung cavities to reduce
subsequent damage, thereby improving the body’s ability to
control infection and prevent ongoing morbidity and mortality.
The research continues an established collaboration
between the University, Public Health England, Porton Down and
Columbia University, New York.
Dr Paul Elkington, who leads tuberculosis research at the University, comments:
“Tuberculosis remains a globally important disease and
continues to kill over three thousand people every day, but
standard treatment has remained unchanged for over 30 years.
This award will be critical to taking our basic research
findings towards new treatments that will limit the lung
destruction in tuberculosis, thereby reducing mortality and
improving outcomes.”
Source:
University of Southampton
