VOL.55   /  2024.12.05

The World Health Organization (WHO), in collaboration with the World Innovation Summit for Health (WISH), released a new action-oriented report on addressing TB among refugees and migrants. The report outlines ten key policy options to dismantle the barriers that prevent displaced populations from accessing essential TB prevention and care.

The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB and Malaria (Global Fund) and the Stop TB Partnership (Stop TB) signed a new collaboration framework with the aim of increasing momentum towards ending TB in low- and middle-income countries by 2030. Source: Global Fund

WHO’s Global TB Report 2024

The World Health Organization (WHO) released the 2024 Global TB Report revealing that approximately 8.2 million people were newly diagnosed with TB in 2023 – the highest number recorded since WHO began global TB monitoring in 1995, placing TB again as the leading infectious disease killer in 2023, surpassing COVID-19. Global targets for reducing the TB burden are off-track: multidrug-resistant TB remains a public health crisis; half of TB-affected households face catastrophic costs to access TB diagnosis and treatment in all low- and middle-income countries; global funding for TB prevention, care and research decreased further in 2023. WHO calls on governments, global partners, and donors to urgently translate the commitments made during the 2023 UN High-Level Meeting on TB into tangible actions towards achieving the global targets set for 2027.

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Researchers have uncovered why a relatively new antibiotic for TB works against multidrug-resistant strains, potentially inspiring improved treatments and drug development strategies. The study, published in Nature Communications, found that deficiencies in a critical enzyme make TB bacteria that resist old antibiotics more vulnerable to the new antibiotic bedaquiline.

Researchers revealed how the TB bacterium ‘breaks the rules’ of bacterial biology - it is the first single-celled organism ever observed to maintain a consistent growth rate throughout its life cycle. These findings, published in Nature Microbiology, overturn core beliefs of bacterial cell biology and hint at why the deadly pathogen so readily outmaneuvers the human immune system and antibiotics.

A systematic review and meta-analysis by the Stool4TB partnership supported the use of the Xpert Ultra test on stool samples for diagnosing TB in children. The study results were published in The Lancet Microbe.

A new World Health Organization (WHO) study published in eBioMedicine named 17 pathogens that regularly cause diseases in communities as top priorities for new vaccine development. Mycobacterium tuberculosis is one of five pathogens that appear on the top ten list of priorities for every region.

Among people living with HIV in Denmark, TB risk remained at its highest level during the first six months after starting antiretroviral treatment, a study published in Clinical Infectious Diseases found. Although risk levels dropped thereafter, TB incidence and mortality remained elevated among people who inject drugs and those who immigrated from areas with high TB prevalence, with implications for TB screening and treatment.

Researchers have discovered a protein complex that helps fight cancer cells also slows the growth of TB – a finding that could mean better treatments for both diseases. The protein complex, GID/CTLH, represents a newly discovered way human cells defend against bacterial infections.

Using cryogenic electron microscopy and advanced biochemical techniques, researchers have uncovered a critical resistance mechanism used by mycobacteria to evade the antibiotic rifampicin — a drug commonly used to treat serious infections like TB and pneumonia.

Scientists have discovered that TB disrupts glucose metabolism in the body. The findings, published in PLOS Pathogens, complement the understanding that diabetes worsens the symptoms of TB. Importantly, they now say, undiagnosed TB could be pushing vulnerable patients towards metabolic disease such as diabetes.

Indian researchers have created a unique way to deliver TB medicines directly to the brain bypassing the challenging blood-brain barrier that limits the effectiveness of many brain TB medicines. This innovative drug delivery method can effectively treat brain TB — a life-threatening condition with high mortality rate.

The International Union Against Tuberculosis and Lung Disease released the November 2024 issue of IJTLD OPEN – a fully-compliant, open access journal to enhance the coverage of TB and lung disease. IJTLD OPEN November 2024 issue can be accessed here.

The International Union Against Tuberculosis and Lung Disease released the October 2024 issue of IJTLD OPEN – a fully-compliant, open access journal to enhance the coverage of TB and lung disease. IJTLD OPEN October 2024 issue can be accessed here.