Abstract

The UK Border Agency on Thursday said pre-entry tuberculosis (TB) screening will be a requirement for Philippine applicants seeking long-term visas starting February 28.

A major new centre to boost the development of drugs to tackle the foremost diseases of the developing world is to be created at the University of Dundee.

On March 1, 2013 the Law of Ukraine on drugs import licensing № 5038-VI comes into force, which will paralyze the importation of foreign drugs to Ukraine. According to the Law, starting from spring all foreign drugs should have Ukrainian license to be brought on the territory of Ukraine. Additional quality certificate from the Ukrainian laboratories will be required, which will cost nearly 30 000 UAH for each series.

Bacillus Calmette–Guérin (BCG) vaccine has a protective effect against tuberculosis (TB) in adults decades after vaccination, according to a cross-sectional study. The observation, posted online September 27, 2012, and published in print February 11, 2013, in a special themed issue of Thorax coinciding with World TB Day, has important implications for national policy of BCG vaccination.

Screening for Mycobacterium tuberculosis infection in young children and offering isoniazid preventive therapy (IPT) is highly cost-effective, according to findings of a decision analysis model first posted online June 20, 2012, and first published in print February 11, 2013, in a special themed issue of Thorax coinciding with World TB Day.

Video presentations from the "Aspiring to Zero TB Deaths, New Infections, and Suffering" symposium held at the 2012 International Union Against TB and Lung Disease World Conference in Kuala Lumpur are now available online! 

Tuberculosis (TB) is one of the most under-reported and under-rated chronic disease for children across the world. Although childhood TB has been receiving attention from global health experts, it still remains a major cause for illness and death of children. Yet TB is preventable, treatable and curable.  Children generally contract this disease because they are in proximity to elders who are already affected by the TB bacterium, such as a nanny, the mother, the care-giver or other infected family members.

Drops in donor spending on global health in 2011 were not as steep as expected and were part of a shift, that while reflecting the impact of the global economic crisis, also indicated recognition of the need to support health and health systems worldwide.

In a patient's fight against tuberculosis—the bacterial lung disease that kills more people annually than any infectious disease besides HIV— doctors have more than 10 drugs from which to choose. Most of those didn't work for Uvistra Naidoo, a South African doctor who contracted the disease in his clinic. For those who contract the disease now, maybe none of them will.