J affect dis: new development of Mycobacterium tuberculosis research

February 13, 2020 / Biovalley BIOON / -- in September 2018, the National Institute of allergy and infectious diseases (NIAID) of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) released its strategic plan for TB research, which outlines the research priorities for reducing and ultimately eliminating the burden of TB Tuberculosis is a bacterial disease that has killed more than one billion people in the past two centuries Recently, Dr Anthony S Fauci, director of NIAID, and other staff published a new "viewpoint" in the Journal of infectious diseases, summarizing the latest progress in the improvement of tuberculosis diagnosis, treatment scheme and prevention method, which makes 2019 a breakthrough year in tuberculosis related research First of all, the author briefly introduces the therapeutic clinical trials, including brief TB / a5279, which is a phase III clinical study The results show that the 1-month double antibiotic therapy can achieve the same effect as the traditional single drug treatment for 9 months in the treatment of TB infection in HIV patients (also high-risk TB infection population) In June 2019, the phase III trial of Phoenix MDR-TB was launched in 12 countries by NIAID, National Institutes of Health (NIH) and National Institute of child health and human development The clinical trial compared the effectiveness of two oral regimens in the prevention of high-risk adults, adolescents and children "The results of this innovative study will guide new TB prevention guidelines to avoid pain, disability and death from infection with drug-resistant TB," Dr Fauci and others wrote (photo source: www Pixabay Com) in addition, some achievements have been made in the research of TB vaccine in 2019 In a study in macaques, BCG (the world's only licensed TB vaccine) was administered intravenously (rather than via a standard intradermal route) to significantly improve protection These findings support the further study of intravenous BCG administration in future human clinical trials In addition, phase 2B trial results of a candidate TB vaccine named M72 / AS01 (developed by GlaxoSmithKline) were also very positive In the clinical trial, 3575 volunteers were recruited from three countries Compared with placebo, the drug was 50% effective in preventing the development of active tuberculosis The author points out that the challenge in 2020 and beyond is to continue to develop under the impetus of these new achievements There is an urgent need for fast, cheap and accurate real-time diagnostic services New and more effective drugs; and new and improved vaccines that can prevent the transition from latent to active TB or prevent infection altogether The author concludes that the end of TB can be achieved in a generation only through the joint efforts, collective and collaborative efforts of governments, academia, industry and civil society at all levels Source of information: recent advances in addressing tuberculosis give hope for future source: Robert W Eisinger et al, 2019: a banner year for tuberculosis research, the Journal of infectious diseases (2020) Doi: 10.1093/infdis/jiaa051