Tuberculosis, an infectious disease that killed 1.5 million people in 2020, is most commonly treated with a cocktail of four drugs that must be taken for up to six months. This treatment plan, however, can have the unintended consequence of leading to antibiotic resistance, both because people may not finish the full course of treatment and, more directly, because one of the drugs can act on bacteria other than Mycobacterium tuberculosis, including components of the intestinal microflora that are critical to health and wellbeing.

The Stop TB Partnership Executive Director Dr. Lucica Ditiu and Deputy Executive Director Dr. Suvanand Sahu attended several high-level meetings (19-22 September 2022), held in the margins of the 77th Session of the UN General Assembly (UNGA 77). They met with key partners and stakeholders to discuss the 2018 UN High-Level Meeting (UNHLM) on TB targets, and the urgent need for increased investments and preparations ahead of next year’s UNHLM on TB. Highlights of the activities are compiled here.

TB community-led monitoring: Leaving no one behind

RESIST-TB released its September 2022 newsletter with the latest research publications on drug-resistant TB.

While tuberculosis (TB) is the top killer of people living with HIV, TB is also harder to diagnose in people living with HIV than in people who are not. What is more, TB is particularly difficult to diagnose in people living with HIV who have compromised immune systems.

The London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine will host a webinar on 12 October 2022 that will explore how host and bacteria differences may affect the response to TB treatment, and will present a novel patented technology to improve the study of the impact of Mycobacterium tuberculosis lineages differences on TB treatment response.

Summary

The Department of Immunization, Vaccines and Biologicals (IVB) at the World Health Organization (WHO) released a draft document for public consultation 'WHO Evidence Considerations for Vaccine Policy Development (ECVP) for Tuberculosis vaccines intended for Adults and Adolescents'.

The World Health Organization releases updated guidelines and a new operational handbook on tests for the diagnosis of TB infection.

The World Health Organization (WHO)’s Global TB Program will conduct a free post-graduate course on the latest TB guidelines and recommendations on 13 October 2022 as part of the 53rd Union World Conference on Lung Health (Union Conference).