Almost half of tuberculosis patients with a strain resistant to two or more drugs hadn’t had the disease before, according to a study at a Chinese hospital.

"The Board of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria approved an action plan Monday in response to recommendations made recently by the High-Level Independent Review Panel on Fiduciary Controls and Oversight Mechanism (HLP)," the Center for Global Health Policy's "Science Speaks" blog reports, adding, "The board stated that it accepts the underlying analysis made by the panel and that it 'presents a compelling case for a rapid and urgent transformation of the Global Fund.'"

The Executive Director of the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) commended the Premier of KwaZulu-Natal Dr Zweli Mkhize on his commitment to integrating HIV with health and social and economic services.

On 1 October 2011 the collaborative research programme – Advanced Immunization Technologies (ADITEC) - will start in order to accelerate the development of novel and powerful immunization technologies for the next generation of human vaccines.  ADITEC is co-funded with €30M by the European Commission to establish a robust platform for innovation in this key strategic area with a high socio-economic impact. Scientists from 42 research partners in 13 countries will collaborate in this new programme.

The spotlight is back on the high number of tuberculosis patients who default on treatment, increasing the risk of infecting others and causing drug-resistant TB to spread.

Eli Lilly and Company (NYSE: LLY) today announced the launch of a new open innovation platform designed to help build the company's pipeline of tomorrow and, from a philanthropic perspective, identify molecules that may have application for treating multi-drug resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB). The new platform, titled Open Innovation Drug Discovery, is supported by an innovative new website available at openinnovation.Lilly.com. It builds on the success of Lilly's Phenotypic Drug Discovery Initiative (PD²) that was launched in 2009 to facilitate research on molecules around the world that have the potential to ultimately be developed into medicines.

Physicians have long known that the so-called "BCG" vaccine for tuberculosis does not provide the same level of protection against the disease in all parts of the world. Some also say the vaccine's effectiveness has been declining since its development in the 1920s, and that it protects against only certain kinds of TB infections. Now, a non-profit health organization says a new gene-based vaccine it's developing has shown promise as a better source of immunity against tuberculosis, a disease that kills nearly two million people every year. 

Tuberculosis usually attacks the lungs, but can also affect other parts of the body like the bones, sometimes leading to disability. Grace Alochi, a single mother, was in good health, hawking smoked fish and selling charcoal to fend for her seven children when a strange disease put her down and left her disabled.

Life science firm Epistem announced this morning that it has successfully completed its first-round tuberculosis (TB) clinical studies as part of its diagnostic collaboration with India’s Xcelris Laboratories.

In this entry in the Huffington Post's "Impact" blog, Kolleen Bouchane, director of ACTION, an international partnership of advocates working to mobilize resources to treat and prevent the spread of tuberculosis (TB), examines the need for improved TB vaccines and diagnostics in order to curb the spread of multidrug-resistant TB, especially among children, and highlights ACTION's new report (.pdf), "Children and Tuberculosis: Exposing a Hidden Epidemic," which she says "exposes the link between TB and orphaned and vulnerable children, malnourished children or children living with HIV."