’Prevention of infections among people who inject drugs is achievable and effective – if it is properly executed’, stresses ECDC Director Marc Sprenger. In recent years, many European countries have achieved substantial progress in preventing drug-related infections. Drug injecting, however, remains a major cause of infectious diseases across Europe. The interventions proposed in the guidance report range from the supply of injection equipment, testing and vaccination to the treatment of infections and drug dependence. These are best applied in combination and ideally in the same venue for maximum effect.

Not just important for building strong bones, an international team of scientists has found that vitamin D also plays an essential role in the body's fight against infections such as tuberculosis.

Illegal labor migration is spurring the spread of HIV and tuberculosis in Russia, the head of consumer safety watchdog Rospotrebnadzor, Gennady Onishchenko, said on Wednesday.

The prominent HIV and TB activist Winstone Zulu has died at the age of 47 in hospital in Lusaka.

The World Health Organization has challenged Russia to compete with neighboring countries for the best national plan to fight drug-resistant tuberculosis — and offered money to boot.

Two-year pilot initiative designed to strengthen community-based care of tuberculosis including HIV co-infection in five African nations.

The World Health Organization (WHO) reports for the first time that the number of people falling ill with tuberculosis (TB) each year is declining. New data, published today in the WHO 2011 Global Tuberculosis Control Report, also show that the number of people dying from the disease fell to its lowest level in a decade. Yet, current progress is at risk from under-funding, especially efforts to combat drug-resistant TB.

The Republic of Moldova recently hosted a meeting, organized by WHO/Europe and WHO headquarters, focused on identifying effective models for delivering integrated tuberculosis, HIV and drug dependence services for people who use drugs. The meeting that took place on 27-29 September 2011 in Chisinau, resulted in a comprehensive overview of successful models, best practices and barriers to effective TB, HIV and drug dependence service delivery, thus informing the development of a WHO regional operational guidance on health service integration.

All regional TB laboratories in Turkmenistan will from now on perform luminescent (light-emitting diodes, LED) microscopy for detection of tuberculosis (TB), using luminescent microscopes and reagents that have been procured by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) project on strengthening TB diagnostics and treatment in Turkmenistan implemented in partnership with the Ministry of Health and Medical Industry of Turkmenistan, UNDP in Turkmenistan said.

The Chemical Diversity Research Institute (CDRI) has signed collaboration and license option agreement with Novartis Institute for Tropical Diseases (NITD) in Singapore to develop patentable chemical compounds for tuberculosis treatment (TB).