According to a 2021 World Health Organization report, the global COVID-19 pandemic caused an increase in tuberculosis (TB) deaths – 1.5 million in 2020 versus 1.4 million in 2019 – due to a lack of efficient diagnosis and treatment. Since TB has been the number one cause of death from infectious disease in the world for centuries, University of Michigan (UM) Medical School Professor Denise Kirschner and colleagues have been working to better understand the disease by using supercomputers like Expanse at the San Diego Supercomputer Center at UC San Diego.

Despite unprecedented efforts to develop COVID-19 vaccines in record time amid the global pandemic, SARS-CoV-2 continues to spread rapidly with the emergence of new variants, such as delta and omicron, making the development of new therapeutic strategies critically important.  

Overseas culture-based tuberculosis screening in U.S.-bound immigrants and refugees substantially reduced the importation of multidrug-resistant TB into the U.S., researchers reported.

The rate of TB in London, UK, has not reduced during the COVID-19 pandemic. This might be surprising given that TB is airborne, and suggests important lessons about the transmission and treatment of the disease.

Although the incidents of tuberculosis have decreased in South Asia from 5.4 million cases in 2000 to 3.8 million in 2020, the health experts believe that the still staggering numbers call for effective policies.

BINGHAMTON, N.Y., 11-Jan-2022 – A common framework that standardizes health impact across diseases and their interventions can aid in identifying current shortcomings on a global scale, according to new research from Binghamton University, State University of New York.

Global efforts to end tuberculosis (TB) are futile without dedicated investment in research into the debilitating disease that is killing 4000 people a day, Stop TB Partnership warns.

In recent years, Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) has been able to improve patients' experiences of care for drug-resistant TB in Afghanistan, but the changing political situation in the country threatens to derail this progress. Anita Mesic, MSF TB, HIV, and hepatitis adviser reports in The BMJ.

Tuberculosis (TB) is one of the major causes of death in South Africa, killing thousands every year, according to surveys and experts.

RESIST-TB released its December 2021 newsletter with the latest research publications on drug-resistant TB.