For years, physicians around the world have watched as strain after strain of the deadly bacteria mycobacterium tuberculosis evolves resistance to drugs.

It is never a good time to come down with tuberculosis, but in recent years the outlook has become worse.

Research on the huge genetic diversity of tuberculosis bacteria and the complex genetics behind growing worldwide resistance to TB drugs could pave the way for improved diagnostic tools to tackle this problem, say researchers.

Researchers characterize drug-resistant tuberculosis by analyzing the genomes of more than 500 Mycobacterium tuberculosis isolates from around the world.

Today’s global health aid landscape has a proliferation of different donors providing aid to low- and middle-income countries. This crowded climate can create challenges for effectively negotiating, coordinating and delivering programs – challenges that are particularly important in light of the current emphasis on achieving cost-effectiveness and “value for money” in global health programs.

Abstract

SUNNYVALE, Calif., Aug. 28, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- Cepheid (NASDAQ: CPHD) today announced the U.S. Food & Drug Administration (FDA) has categorized Cepheid's Xpert^® MTB/RIF test as 'Moderate Complexity' under the Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendments (CLIA). Xpert MTB/RIF is designed for the rapid molecular detection of Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex (MTB-complex) DNA and, in specimens where MTB-complex DNA is detected, Xpert MTB/RIF also detects rifampin-resistance associated mutations of the rpoB gene.The test runs on Cepheid's GeneXpert^® Systems and is the first and only molecular TB (tuberculosis) test to be categorized as Moderately Complex.

A decade-long trend of diminished investment in medical research, exacerbated by budget-standoff driven “sequester” cuts are showing immediate and long term impacts: in stymieing promising studies, and in thwarting the development of the next generation of scientists, according to a brief from amfAR, the Foundation for AIDS Research and TAG, Treatment Action Group.

Infectious disease experts at Johns Hopkins have found, in studies in mice, that a drug better known as a treatment for high blood pressure and headaches effectively speeds up treatment of TB when added to the standard, daily antibiotic regimen. Test animals were cured in four months instead of the usual six.

Nawada resident Mohammad Jalaluddin has no faith left in the government after losing his only son to tuberculosis.