Although there is free medical care available to the people of Mali, tuberculosis remains the leading cause of death in the country.

Fuelled by the HIV pandemic and the spread of drug-resistant strains, tuberculosis (TB) has re-emerged as a major threat to global health. TB is a curable disease that continues to affect millions of people globally each year, and is a leading cause of death in HIV positive people. According to the 2009 WHO Report on Global TB Control, there were 9.4 million new TB cases in 2008, out of which 1.4 million (14%) were HIV positive (78% of them were in Africa and 13% in Southeast Asia). Mortality from TB was 1.7 million, and about 0.5 million of these deaths were in People Living with HIV (PLHIV), who are at a much increased risk of contracting TB. In high burden HIV settings (like the sub Saharan region) more than 70% of TB patients are living with HIV. So, universal access to HIV care cannot be achieved without addressing TB.

Abstract

The tendency, common among Ugandans, to assume individuals are HIV-positive or negative without prior testing is undermining the positive results the country had registered in its initial fight against HIV/AIDS in the 1990s, a new study has shown.

Pretoria — The latest tuberculosis (TB) cure rate statistics in Gauteng show some success said the Department of Health and Social Development on Sunday.

Yashica isn't your typical laboratory technician. For one thing, there's the tail. For another, he'll literally work for peanuts.

Medical practitioners from eight regional countries have kicked off a week-long seminar, in Kigali, on handling severe tuberculosis, commonly known as Drug Resistant TB.

Charles Raradza (44) fell seriously ill in 2001, coughing uncontrollably. He went to get tested for tuberculosis (TB) at a hospital in Kadoma, but the bacteria that causes the disease was not detected in his sputum.

A potential vaccine against tuberculosis has been found to completely eliminate tuberculosis bacteria from infected tissues in some mice. The vaccine was created with a strain of bacteria that, due to the absence of a few genes, are unable to avoid its host's first-line immune response. Once this first-line defense has been activated, it triggers the more specific immune response that can protect against future infections.

In a landmark initiative aimed at curbing the current tuberculosis (TB) epidemic, the World Health Organization (WHO) and the International Pharmaceutical Federation (FIP) today signed a Joint Statement on the role of pharmacists in tuberculosis care and control at the Federation's 71st International Congress in Hyderabad, India.