Tuberculosis is a deadly yet curable infectious disease caused by a bacterium called Mycobacterium tuberculosis which remains the second leading cause of infectious death globally. According to the World Health Organization, a total of 1.4 million people died from tuberculosis in 2019.

GENEVA, 12 May 2021 – The Board of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria overwhelmingly praised the continued progress of the Global Fund in the past year despite the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic. The Board discussed how the Global Fund partnership can continue to support countries to respond to COVID-19 and prepare for future pandemics, while at the same time mitigating the impact on HIV, TB and malaria programs and strengthen systems for health in order to reach the target of ending HIV, TB and malaria as epidemics by 2030.

The Communities Delegation to the Unitaid Board is looking to appoint a new Alternate Board Member to represent communities living with and affected by HIV, TB and malaria and those co-infected with HIV and HCV.

The Time for $5 Coalition calls out Cepheid for not including price reductions of Xpert tests in their updated GeneXpert pricing packages for low- and middle-income countries.

A pioneering study by UCL scientists has discovered the presence of a harmful inflammatory protein in patients with symptomatic tuberculosis (TB).

Risk for active tuberculosis (TB) may be reduced with the use of statins. This finding was published in a letter to the editor in the Journal of Infectious Diseases.¹

The Stop TB Partnership New Tools Working Groups and the Stop TB Partnership NGO and Affected Community Board Delegations are co-developing a self-guided online learning course on new TB drugs, diagnostics, and vaccines. The purpose of the course is to build capacity and strengthen the engagement of advocates, including TB-affected communities and civil society, in the TB research and development agenda.

The World Health Organization (WHO) is convening a Guideline Development Group (GDG) to advise on updates needed to its recommendations on the management of tuberculosis (TB) in children and adolescents.

A shorter regimen containing rifapentine and moxifloxacin can cure TB in four months.

An RNA signature of tuberculosis, RISK11, was used to discriminate between individuals with prevalent tuberculosis or progression to incident tuberculosis and individuals who remained healthy, according to a study in The Lancet Infectious Diseases.