Bharat Biotech begins clinical trials of TB vaccine on adults in India
Bharat Biotech International Ltd has initiated clinical trials for the Tuberculosis vaccine Mtbvac on adults in India. Developed by the Spanish biopharmaceutical company Biofabri, Mtbvac is the first TB vaccine derived from a human source. The vaccine aims to be more effective and longer-lasting than the current BCG vaccine for newborns and to prevent TB in adults and adolescents, for whom there is currently no effective vaccine. The trials are a significant step, especially in a country like India where 28% of the world's TB cases occur. (Source: The Economic Times)
Source: The Economic Times - March 24, 2024 Category: Consumer Health News Source Type: news

Africa: Bill & Melinda Gates Medical Research Institute Initiates Phase Three Clinical Trial of Tuberculosis Vaccine Candidate
[Gates Foundation] A large Phase 3 trial will evaluate whether the M72/AS01E vaccine candidate can protect adolescents and adults from pulmonary tuberculosis Clinical trial site at University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa, is first of up to 60 sites in seven countries The M72/AS01E vaccine candidate could be the first new TB vaccine in 100 years if proven effective (Source: AllAfrica News: Tuberculosis)
Source: AllAfrica News: Tuberculosis - March 19, 2024 Category: Infectious Diseases Tags: Africa Health and Medicine Tuberculosis Source Type: news

Leaky Blood Vessels and Long COVID; BCG Vaccine and Alzheimer's; New CTE Subtype
(MedPage Today) -- Brain fog in long COVID may be due to a leaky blood-brain barrier, new research suggested. (Nature Neuroscience) A highly accurate novel blood test was at least as good as FDA-approved cerebrospinal fluid assays at diagnosing... (Source: MedPage Today Neurology)
Source: MedPage Today Neurology - February 27, 2024 Category: Neurology Source Type: news

Is the 100-year old TB vaccine a new weapon against Alzheimer ’s?
Studies suggest the BCG jab discovered a century ago could provide a cheap and effective way of boosting the immune system to protect people from developing the conditionScientific discoveries can emerge from the strangest places. In early 1900s France, the doctor Albert Calmette and the veterinarian Camille Gu érin aimed to discover how bovine tuberculosis was transmitted. To do so, they first had to find a way of cultivating the bacteria. Sliced potatoes – cooked with ox bile and glycerine – proved to be the perfect medium.As the bacteria grew, however, Calmette and Gu érin were surprised to find thateach generatio...
Source: Guardian Unlimited Science - February 25, 2024 Category: Science Authors: David Robson Tags: Alzheimer's Immunology Science Society Health Medical research Biochemistry and molecular biology Tuberculosis Vaccines and immunisation Dementia Source Type: news

HEALTH NOTES: Researchers testing inhaled tuberculosis vaccine as cases rise
HEALTH NOTES: Experts are searching for a more effective tuberculosis (TB) vaccine amid rising levels of infections. (Source: the Mail online | Health)
Source: the Mail online | Health - January 20, 2024 Category: Consumer Health News Source Type: news

Notes from the Field: Undiagnosed Tuberculosis During Pregnancy Resulting in a Neonatal Death - United States, 2021
This report describes an infant death following a case of undiagnosed tuberculosis during pregnancy. (Source: CDC Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report)
Source: CDC Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report - December 7, 2023 Category: American Health Tags: MMWR Morbidity & Mortality Weekly Report Tuberculosis (TB) Tuberculosis Vaccine (BCG) Source Type: news

Ending TB Is Within Reach — So Why Are Millions Still Dying?
Tuberculosis has passed Covid as the top infectious disease killer, despite new medicines and better diagnostic tools. (Source: NYT Health)
Source: NYT Health - November 6, 2023 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Stephanie Nolen and Natalija Gormalova Tags: Tuberculosis Vaccination and Immunization Drugs (Pharmaceuticals) Tests (Medical) Clinical Trials Medicine and Health Developing Countries Drug Resistance (Microbial) Infections Africa Ghana your-feed-science your-feed-healthcare Source Type: news

Africa: TB Vaccine - WHO Expert Explains Why It's Taken 100 Years for a Scientific Breakthrough, and Why It's Such a Big Deal
[The Conversation Africa] The BCG vaccine for TB has been used for 100 years. It is largely effective for children under five, but less so in older people and can't be used on patients who have certain medical conditions. Today we're the closest we've ever been to discovering a vaccine that might replace or complement it. Charles Shey Wiysonge, the World Health Organization's Regional Adviser for Immunisation, discusses the latest developments in the fight against one of the world's deadliest diseases. (Source: AllAfrica News: Tuberculosis)
Source: AllAfrica News: Tuberculosis - October 31, 2023 Category: Infectious Diseases Tags: Africa Health and Medicine Tuberculosis Source Type: news

First malaria vaccine slashes early childhood deaths
In a major analysis in Africa, the first vaccine approved to fight malaria cut deaths among young children by 13% over nearly 4 years, the World Health Organization (WHO) reported last week. The huge evaluation of a pilot rollout of the vaccine, called RTS,S or Mosquirix and made by GlaxoSmithKline, also showed a 22% reduction in severe malaria in kids young enough to receive a three-shot series. Hundreds of thousands of children are born annually in the parts of Ghana, Kenya, and Malawi included in the analysis, for which WHO revealed the final data on 20 October at the annual meeting of the American Society of Tropical M...
Source: ScienceNOW - October 24, 2023 Category: Science Source Type: news

Three Tuberculosis Vaccines Reach Final Stage of Development Three Tuberculosis Vaccines Reach Final Stage of Development
Around 15 vaccine candidates are being developed in the battle against tuberculosis to compensate for the poor efficacy of the Bacillus Calmette-Gu érin vaccine.Medscape Medical News (Source: Medscape Allergy Headlines)
Source: Medscape Allergy Headlines - October 11, 2023 Category: Allergy & Immunology Tags: Infectious Diseases News Source Type: news

Immunity-enhancing cocktail protects mice against multiple hospital germs
Some people in hospital die not from the illness or accident that got them admitted but from germs they catch once there. In the United States alone, there are hundreds of thousands of hospital-acquired infections each year, leading to tens of thousands of deaths. Seeking to lower this toll, researchers have now come up with an immune-boosting cocktail that increases the survival of mice exposed to the microbes responsible. The three-compound formulation, which the researchers unusually refer to as a vaccine, provided up to 28 days of protection from the notorious hospital bacterium Pseudomonas aerugin...
Source: ScienceNOW - October 4, 2023 Category: Science Source Type: news

South Africa: A UN Meeting On TB Is At Best a Means to More Important Ends
[spotlight] In 2018 the first findings from a landmark tuberculosis (TB) vaccine trial were published in the New England Journal of Medicine. The experimental vaccine, called M72, was found to be roughly 50% effective in preventing pulmonary TB disease. It was the most promising finding for a new TB vaccine since the development of the BCG vaccine a century ago. (Source: AllAfrica News: Tuberculosis)
Source: AllAfrica News: Tuberculosis - September 14, 2023 Category: Infectious Diseases Tags: Health and Medicine South Africa Southern Africa Tuberculosis Source Type: news

TB Preventive Treatment: the Need for Choice
The progress made in HIV prevention is nothing short of a global success story. It is time that TB caught up to HIV. Medicine is simply too advanced for us to tolerate how one disease can be beaten back yet another continues to flourish. Credit: Jeffrey Moyo/IPS. By Violet ChihotaJOHANNESBURG, Jul 26 2023 (IPS) Before COVID-19 came along, the two most lethal infectious diseases were HIV and tuberculosis (TB). Even though HIV still lingers, with 1.5 million people contracting the infection every year, epidemiologists point to the availability of many HIV prevention options as a primary reason for the decreasing caseload. Ac...
Source: IPS Inter Press Service - Health - July 26, 2023 Category: International Medicine & Public Health Authors: Violet Chihota Tags: Africa Headlines Health Poverty & SDGs tuberculosis (TB) Source Type: news

SII manufactured BCG vaccine gets export nod to treat bladder cancer
The Serum Institute of India has been granted permission to export its BCG vaccine to Canada for the treatment of bladder cancer, following a request from the director, Prakash Kumar Singh. BCG as immunotherapy is a live freeze-dried preparation derived from an attenuated strain of Mycobacterium bovis (Bacillus Calmette Guerin) and is sold in 40mg and 80mg presentations. (Source: The Economic Times Healthcare and Biotech News)
Source: The Economic Times Healthcare and Biotech News - July 24, 2023 Category: Pharmaceuticals Source Type: news

Tuberculosis vaccine to enter final trials, raising hopes of saving millions
If the next steps are successful, M72 would be the first new vaccine in a century to target tuberculosis, a disease that killed 1.6 million people in 2021. (Source: Washington Post: To Your Health)
Source: Washington Post: To Your Health - June 30, 2023 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Shera Avi-Yonah Source Type: news