CNS Stop-TB News Monitor: 2 - 8 September 2011

CNS Stop-TB News Monitor provides a snapshot of five major news pieces on tuberculosis (TB) prevention, treatment, care and support related issues, from around the world, particularly prioritising news highlights from TB high-burdened countries and links to major TB-related events or other advocacy opportunities. This is issue 1275 (2 - 8 September 2011)

1- Living With HIV And Dying Of TB

(Source: Citizen News Service, India/Thailand) 

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. Read more

2- WHO, international pharma body tie up to tackle tuberculosis

(Source: The Hindu Business Line, Hyderabad, India) 

The World Health Organisation, in a landmark initiative to curb the current tuberculosis epidemic, has signed up with The International Pharmaceutical Federation on the role of pharmacists in tuberculosis care and control. Read more

3- Tuberculosis relative could be new vaccine

(Source: BBC News, UK)

Experiments on mice showed the injections could completely eliminate tuberculosis bacteria in some cases, Nature Medicine reports. Read more

4- Orissa Health secretary inaugurates Virology Lab, Tb Culture Facility in RMRC

(Source: Orissa Dairy, Orissa, India)

 Regional Medical Research Centre  (RMRC) a premier institute of ICMR, Dept. of Health Research, Govt. of India has established two new advance laboratories; i) Grade -I virology and ii) T.B culture and Drug Sensitivity Testing lab in its main building at Bhubaneswar. On the eve of centenary year celebration (1911-2011) of the Council (ICMR), the opening ceremony of these labs was held at RMRC Auditorium. Read more

5- 90-minute TB test not a game changer for India

(Source: Indo Asian News Service, News Delhi, India)

A new diagnostic technique that detects tuberculosis in 90 minutes instead of three months using the conventional method may not be effective in India as the heat and humidity would affect the equipment, experts said. Read more

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Watch these dates!
26-30 October: 42nd Union World Conference on Lung Health, Lille, France

23-25 February 2012: 16th Conference of The Union North America Region, Texas, USA

27-30 March 2012: 27th Conference of The Union Middle-East Region, Cairo, Egypt
4 - 6 July 2012: 6th Conference of The Union Europe Region, London, United Kingdom

USEFUL LINKS!
To download the 2010 report with new WHO data, Multidrug and Extensively Drug-Resistant Tuberculosis: 2010 Global Report on Surveillance and Response, click here

To download or read the Global Plan to Stop TB (2006-2015), click here
To download or read The Stop TB Strategy, click here

To subscribe to the global Stop-TB eForum, established by Health and Development Networks (HDN), and now managed by the Stop TB Partnership, International Union Against Tuberculosis and Lung Disease (The Union) and International HIV/AIDS Alliance, send an email to: join-stop-tb@eforums.healthdev.org

To download or read the Patients' Charter for Tuberculosis Care (PCTC), click here

To download or read the International Standards of Tuberculosis Care (ISTC), click here

Know more about: Advocacy to Control TB Internationally (ACTION), AIDS and Rights Alliance for Southern Africa (ARASA), International Union Against Tuberculosis and Lung Disease (The Union), TB Action Group (Kenya), TB Alert, TB/HIV Care Association, TuBerculosis Vaccine Initiative (TBVI), World Care Council, [to feature your organisation, send an email to: bobby@citizen-news.org]
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Produced voluntarily by: CNS Stop-TB Initiative, and Abhinav Bharat Foundation (ABF) - partners of Stop TB Partnership, with technical assistance from CNS News Monitoring Initiative (CNS-NMI)

CNS Stop-TB News Monitor: 18- 25 July 2011

CNS Stop-TB News Monitor provides a snapshot of five major news pieces on tuberculosis (TB) prevention, treatment, care and support related issues, from around the world, particularly prioritising news highlights from TB high-burdened countries and links to major TB-related events or other advocacy opportunities. This is issue 1274 (18 - 25 July 2011)

1- WHO warns against the use of inaccurate blood tests for active tuberculosis

(Source: Citizen News Service, India/Thailand) 

The use of currently available commercial blood (serological) tests to diagnose active tuberculosis often leads to misdiagnosis, mistreatment and potential harm to public health, says the World Health Organization (WHO) in a policy recommendation issued earlier this week. Read more

2- New TB Vaccines: A matter of political will

(Source: Citizen News Service, India/Thailand) 

TB vaccine research is moving forward steadily. In their 2010 annual report, the TuBerculosis Vaccine Initiative (TBVI) looks back at a scientifically successful year. Researchers within TBVI’s network are progressing towards new, safer and more effective tuberculosis vaccines. However, in order to successfully deliver these live-saving vaccines to the market, both political support and innovative investment are crucial. Read more

3- New TB Vaccines: A Reality In The Next Decade

(Source: Citizen News Service, India/Thailand)

Often thought to be a disease of the past, tuberculosis still kills around 1.7 million people per year. Worldwide, more than 9 million people become infected every year. Although TB mostly affects poor people in developing countries, it is prevalent in all continents, especially in Asia, Africa and Europe. Read more

4- TB tests done at private clinics ‘not accurate’

(Source: Daily Nation News, Kenya)

One in every two Kenyans going for a tuberculosis test at private clinics is most likely getting false results due to the use of substandard kits. Kenya is among 16 countries which use blood test for TB diagnosis — an option that has long been opposed by the World Health Organisation for its “unacceptable level of wrong results". Read more

5- TB: DOTS Plus programme soon in 11 districts

(Source: IBN Live News, Orissa, India)

To take the fight against multi drug resistant tuberculosis (MDR TB) a notch ahead, the State Government  announced that the DOTS Plus programme would be extended to 11 more districts soon. Read more

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Watch these dates!
26-30 October: 42nd Union World Conference on Lung Health, Lille, France

23-25 February 2012: 16th Conference of The Union North America Region, Texas, USA

27-30 March 2012: 27th Conference of The Union Middle-East Region, Cairo, Egypt
4 - 6 July 2012: 6th Conference of The Union Europe Region, London, United Kingdom

USEFUL LINKS!
To download the 2010 report with new WHO data, Multidrug and Extensively Drug-Resistant Tuberculosis: 2010 Global Report on Surveillance and Response, click here

To download or read the Global Plan to Stop TB (2006-2015), click here
To download or read The Stop TB Strategy, click here

To subscribe to the global Stop-TB eForum, established by Health and Development Networks (HDN), and now managed by the Stop TB Partnership, International Union Against Tuberculosis and Lung Disease (The Union) and International HIV/AIDS Alliance, send an email to: join-stop-tb@eforums.healthdev.org

To download or read the Patients' Charter for Tuberculosis Care (PCTC), click here

To download or read the International Standards of Tuberculosis Care (ISTC), click here

Know more about: Advocacy to Control TB Internationally (ACTION), AIDS and Rights Alliance for Southern Africa (ARASA), International Union Against Tuberculosis and Lung Disease (The Union), TB Action Group (Kenya), TB Alert, TB/HIV Care Association, TuBerculosis Vaccine Initiative (TBVI), World Care Council, [to feature your organisation, send an email to: bobby@citizen-news.org]
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Produced voluntarily by: CNS Stop-TB Initiative, and Abhinav Bharat Foundation (ABF) - partners of Stop TB Partnership, with technical assistance from CNS News Monitoring Initiative (CNS-NMI)

CNS Stop-TB News Monitor: 29 June - 5 July 2011

CNS Stop-TB News Monitor provides a snapshot of five major news pieces on tuberculosis (TB) prevention, treatment, care and support related issues, from around the world, particularly prioritising news highlights from TB high-burdened countries and links to major TB-related events or other advocacy opportunities. This is issue 1273 (29 June - 5 July 2011)

1- [Publications] Access,Accountability and Rights: Your Voices,Your Views on the Global Fund

(Source: Citizen News Service (CNS), India/Thailand) 

As part of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria (The Global Fund) Partnership Forum consultations, nine Key Correspondents (KCs) from seven countries captured voices from the field in local contexts and produced articles and videos on specific themes. Read more

2- [Publications] 2011 Global Fund Partnership Forum e-Consultations: Adding Your Voice to the Global Fund's 2012-2016 Strategy
(Source: Citizen News Service (CNS), India/Thailand) 
The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria (The Global Fund) supported a consultative process through online thematic consultations, survey and in-country interviews among other mechanisms, in lead up to the Partnership Forum 2011. Read more

3- Pakistan ranks 6th among high TB burden countries
(Source: Pak Observer, Pakistan)
Pakistan ranks 6th globally among the 22 high tuberculosis burden countries, and contributes 43% of the disease towards the Eastern-Mediterranean region of World Health Organization (WHO). According to available data, the incidence of TB per 100,000 population in Pakistan is 181, case notification per 100,000 per year is 150 while the treatment success rate is 85%. Read more

4- Tijuana’s Success In Tuberculosis Treatment Benefits San Diego

(Source: KPBS News, Mexico)
Tijuana’s state-of-the-art lab opened in 2006, with funding from the Mexican government as well as $400,000 from USAID for construction and testing equipment. Today, Tijuana has the most success in the treatment of drug-resistant TB in Mexico, seeing an average of 700 new cases a year. Read more

5- UAB professor taking lead in global effort against drug-resistant TB, HIV

(Source: UAB News, Africa)
In the African nation where the first extensively drug-resistant case of tuberculosis (XDR-TB) was found a few years ago, the doors soon will open on a new TB research facility. University of Alabama at Birmingham researcher Adrie Steyn, Ph.D., is the first scientist recruited to work at the facility. Steyn, associate professor in the UAB Department of Microbiology, is the first investigator for the new KwaZulu-Natal Research Institute for Tuberculosis and HIV (K-RITH) in Durban, South Africa, a collaboration between the Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) and the University of KwaZulu-Natal in South Africa. Read more
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Watch these dates!
26-30 October: 42nd Union World Conference on Lung Health, Lille, France
8-11 July: 3rd Asia-Pacific Regional Union Conference on Lung Health, Hong Kong
23-25 February 2012: 16th Conference of The Union North America Region, Texas, USA
27-30 March 2012: 27th Conference of The Union Middle-East Region, Cairo, Egypt
4 - 6 July 2012: 6th Conference of The Union Europe Region, London, United Kingdom

USEFUL LINKS!
To download the 2010 report with new WHO data, Multidrug and Extensively Drug-Resistant Tuberculosis: 2010 Global Report on Surveillance and Response, click here

To download or read the Global Plan to Stop TB (2006-2015), click here
To download or read The Stop TB Strategy, click here

To subscribe to the global Stop-TB eForum, established by Health and Development Networks (HDN), and now managed by the Stop TB Partnership, International Union Against Tuberculosis and Lung Disease (The Union) and International HIV/AIDS Alliance, send an email to: join-stop-tb@eforums.healthdev.org

To download or read the Patients' Charter for Tuberculosis Care (PCTC), click here

To download or read the International Standards of Tuberculosis Care (ISTC), click here

Know more about: Advocacy to Control TB Internationally (ACTION), AIDS and Rights Alliance for Southern Africa (ARASA), International Union Against Tuberculosis and Lung Disease (The Union), TB Action Group (Kenya), TB Alert, TB/HIV Care Association, TuBerculosis Vaccine Initiative (TBVI), World Care Council, [to feature your organisation, send an email to: bobby@citizen-news.org]
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Produced voluntarily by: CNS Stop-TB Initiative, and Abhinav Bharat Foundation (ABF) - partners of Stop TB Partnership, with technical assistance from CNS News Monitoring Initiative (CNS-NMI)

CNS Stop-TB News Monitor: 22 - 28 June 2011

CNS Stop-TB News Monitor provides a snapshot of five major news pieces on tuberculosis (TB) prevention, treatment, care and support related issues, from around the world, particularly prioritising news highlights from TB high-burdened countries and links to major TB-related events or other advocacy opportunities. This is issue 1272 (22 - 28 June 2011)

1- New TB Vaccine Passes Safety Tests

(Source: Voice of America, America) 

Tuberculosis continues to be a major threat around the world, especially in developing countries. A new vaccine has gone into testing, and the results may change how childhood vaccinations are given. Read more

2- Rising Drug Resistance Worries Doctors
(Source: All Africa News, Nairobi, Africa) 
The World Health Organisation has warned that if anti-microbial resistance is not halted, many infectious diseases -- like TB, pneumonia and HIV/Aids -- risk becoming uncontrollable. This could derail the progress already made by East Africa towards achieving the health related Millennium Development Goals. Read more 

3- Sanofi Signs R&D Contract On Treating Tuberculosis 
(Source: The Wall Street Journal, USA)
French pharmaceutical giant Sanofi SA (SAN.FR) said it signed into a research collaboration with Weill Cornell Medical College to identify new medicines that aim to shorten the course of treatment of tuberculosis and could provide effective therapies against drug-susceptible and drug-resistant strains of tuberculosis. Read more

4- Scientists come up with new molecule that may lead to better drug for TB 

(Source: The Hindu, Tamil Nadu, India)
Scientists at the Tuberculosis Research Centre (TRC) here have hit upon a new molecule with anti-bacterial and anti-viral properties that could potentially lead to a better drug for the treatment of TB and common HIV sub-types. Read more 

5- Hostels for MDR-TB patients ready 

(Source: Republica News, Kathmandu, Nepal)
In an attempt to prevent multi-drug resistance tuberculosis (MDR-TB) from spreading, the government is all prepared to keep the patients in hostels. Read more
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Watch these dates!
26-30 October: 42nd Union World Conference on Lung Health, Lille, France
8-11 July: 3rd Asia-Pacific Regional Union Conference on Lung Health, Hong Kong
23-25 February 2012: 16th Conference of The Union North America Region, Texas, USA
27-30 March 2012: 27th Conference of The Union Middle-East Region, Cairo, Egypt
4 - 6 July 2012: 6th Conference of The Union Europe Region, London, United Kingdom

USEFUL LINKS!
To download the 2010 report with new WHO data, Multidrug and Extensively Drug-Resistant Tuberculosis: 2010 Global Report on Surveillance and Response, click here

To download or read the Global Plan to Stop TB (2006-2015), click here
To download or read The Stop TB Strategy, click here

To subscribe to the global Stop-TB eForum, established by Health and Development Networks (HDN), and now managed by the Stop TB Partnership, International Union Against Tuberculosis and Lung Disease (The Union) and International HIV/AIDS Alliance, send an email to: join-stop-tb@eforums.healthdev.org

To download or read the Patients' Charter for Tuberculosis Care (PCTC), click here

To download or read the International Standards of Tuberculosis Care (ISTC), click here

Know more about: Advocacy to Control TB Internationally (ACTION), AIDS and Rights Alliance for Southern Africa (ARASA), International Union Against Tuberculosis and Lung Disease (The Union), TB Action Group (Kenya), TB Alert, TB/HIV Care Association, TuBerculosis Vaccine Initiative (TBVI), World Care Council, [to feature your organisation, send an email to: bobby@citizen-news.org]
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Produced voluntarily by: CNS Stop-TB Initiative, and Abhinav Bharat Foundation (ABF) - partners of Stop TB Partnership, with technical assistance from CNS News Monitoring Initiative (CNS-NMI)

CNS Stop-TB News Monitor: 16 - 21 June 2011

CNS Stop-TB News Monitor provides a snapshot of five major news pieces on tuberculosis (TB) prevention, treatment, care and support related issues, from around the world, particularly prioritising news highlights from TB high-burdened countries and links to major TB-related events or other advocacy opportunities. This is issue 1271 (16 - 21 June 2011)

 1- Coordination is the key: CCM partnerships in India
(Source: Citizen News Service (CNS), India/Thailand)
The Global Fund to fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria (The Global Fund) should strengthen national partnerships on specific issues and their coordination with Country Coordinating Mechanisms (CCMs). This is not only to optimise programme performance, but also ensure that community voices are central to health responses. Read more

2- Meeting the MDG targets for TB eradication in Zimbabwe: Global Fund money is vital
(Source: Citizen News Service (CNS), India/Thailand)
Tuberculosis (TB) is a major public health problem in Zimbabwe. As of 2011, the country ranks 20th out of 22 on the list of high-burden TB countries. In 2008, Zimbabwe had an estimated 73,714 new TB cases, and an incidence of 557 per 100,000 people. To aid the national TB response in Zimbabwe, the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria (The Global Fund) supports a number of programmes. Read more 


3- Simplify and build local competencies to manage Global Fund grants: a view from India
(Source: Citizen News Service (CNS), India/Thailand) The Global Fund to fight AIDS, TB and Malaria (the Global Fund) has contributed significantly over the last decade in accelerating India‟s response to TB, HIV and malaria, saving lives and preventing infections. However a lot more needs to be done as it is clearly not enough. If the Global Fund and India do business as usual, currently unreached populations are unlikely to benefit."Over the last ten years the Global Fund has focussed on strengthening the national programmes in India", according to Dr Nevin Wilson, Director, International Union Against Tuberculosis and Lung Disease (The Union), South East Asia office, New Delhi.  Read more 

4- The Global Fund should support operational research to reach the unreached
(Source: Citizen News Service (CNS), India/Thailand)
Since its inception in 2001, the Global Fund to fight AIDS, TB and Malaria (The Global Fund) has saved approximately 5.7 million lives. Each day an additional 4000 deaths are averted, but in order to continue its existing programmes and rapidly scale up towards achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) in 2015, The Global Fund needs to invest resources in operational or applied research to confirm where it gets most value for its dollar, measured in terms of protecting human rights, saving lives and preventing infections. Read more 

5- Infertility problem could be because of tuberculosis
(Source: Daily News and Analysis, Bangalore, Karnataka)
Doctors say that nearly 90% of women with genital tuberculosis (GTB) are diagnosed in the 15-40 years age range. Infertility on account of GTB is 40-80%. Twoout of 10 women suffering from TB cannot bear children, but experts say that with advanced medical treatment now available, if the diagnosis is early enough, GTB can be treated and the woman can regain fertility. Read more
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Watch these dates!

21 June: Pacific Health Summit, Seattle, USA
28 June: 4th Global Fund Partnership Forum Conference, Sao Paulo, Brasil
26-30 October: 42nd Union World Conference on Lung Health, Lille, France
8-11 July: 3rd Asia-Pacific Regional Union Conference on Lung Health, Hong Kong


USEFUL LINKS!
To download the 2010 report with new WHO data, Multidrug and Extensively Drug-Resistant Tuberculosis: 2010 Global Report on Surveillance and Response, click here

To download or read the Global Plan to Stop TB (2006-2015), click here
To download or read The Stop TB Strategy, click here

To subscribe to the global Stop-TB eForum, established by Health and Development Networks (HDN), and now managed by the Stop TB Partnership, International Union Against Tuberculosis and Lung Disease (The Union) and International HIV/AIDS Alliance, send an email to: join-stop-tb@eforums.healthdev.org

To download or read the Patients' Charter for Tuberculosis Care (PCTC), click here

To download or read the International Standards of Tuberculosis Care (ISTC), click here

Know more about: Advocacy to Control TB Internationally (ACTION), AIDS and Rights Alliance for Southern Africa (ARASA), International Union Against Tuberculosis and Lung Disease (The Union), TB Action Group (Kenya), TB Alert, TB/HIV Care Association, TuBerculosis Vaccine Initiative (TBVI), World Care Council, [to feature your organisation, send an email to: bobby@citizen-news.org]
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Produced voluntarily by: CNS Stop-TB Initiative, and Abhinav Bharat Foundation (ABF) - partners of Stop TB Partnership, with technical assistance from CNS News Monitoring Initiative (CNS-NMI)

Infertility problem could be because of tuberculosis

(Source: Daily News and Analysis, Bangalore, Karnataka)

Kala (name changed) had been married for over two years. Unable to conceive, she approached the Bangalore Assisted Conception Centre (BACC). In the course of investigation, an endometrial biopsy was recommended, to test the lining of Kala’s uterus. That test revealed that Kala, only 23 years old, had tuberculosis. Kala belongs to an upper middle class family, and her case contradicts the prevailing notion that tuberculosis is a disease of the poor, the old and the malnourished.

Doctors say that nearly 90% of women with genital tuberculosis (GTB) are diagnosed in the 15-40 years age range. Infertility on account of GTB is 40-80%. Two out of 10 women suffering from TB cannot bear children, but experts say that with advanced medical treatment now available, if the diagnosis is early enough, GTB can be treated and the woman can regain fertility.

“Kala was treated for nine months for tuberculosis. After completing her course, she conceived naturally. She is now six months pregnant,” said Dr Kamini Rao, medical director, BACC. Read more

CNS Stop-TB News Monitor: 9 - 15 June 2011

CNS Stop-TB News Monitor provides a snapshot of five major news pieces on tuberculosis (TB) prevention, treatment, care and support related issues, from around the world, particularly prioritising news highlights from TB high-burdened countries and links to major TB-related events or other advocacy opportunities. This is issue 1269 (9 - 15 June 2011)

1- TB spread: Blame it on maids
(Source: The Times of India, Chandigarh, India)

If your driver, cook or maid is coughing repeatedly, do not take it casually. He or she might be carrying multiple drug resistant tuberculosis (MDRTB), thus exposing you to the risk of an infection that is on the rise in city. Read more

2- A TB centre in Ojha that doesn’t believe in just treating the illness
(Source: The Express Tribune, Karachi, Pakistan)
There are an estimated 17,000 people in Pakistan who suffer from Multi Drug Resistant (MDR) tuberculosis (TB). About 3,000 of them live in Sindh. MDR shows up in patients with TB who are not treated properly. Right now, Pakistan bears 55 per cent of the TB burden in the Eastern Mediterranean region and ranks eighth highest in the world. This makes TB a major public health problem. Read more 

3- Manipur first in region to test multi drug-resistant tuberculosis
(Source: The Telegraph, West Bengal, India)
Manipur will have the first centre in the Northeast to treat multi drug-resistant TB, with one of the four national reference centres assuring the state’s intermediate reference laboratory of accreditation, in order to function as a national reference laboratory. A team from Delhi’s Lala Ram Swarup Hospital, one of the four national reference laboratories of the country for testing multi drug-resistant TB, visited the state’s intermediate reference laboratory at the medical department’s research and development wing at Lamphelpat of Imphal West last month. Read more

4- Closures will increase TB threat to Aust
(Source: The Sydney Morning Herald, Australia)
Closing tuberculosis clinics in the Torres Strait will see the disease re-establish itself in mainland Australia, a tropical health expert warns. The Queensland government will close TB clinics in the Torres Strait at the end of the month. Read more

5- Scientists Launch Vaccine Research Foundation
(Source: PR Wire News, USA)
Fourteen leading scientists and advocacy experts in vaccines and infectious diseases have announced the formation of a new international Foundation to advance and accelerate vaccine research and development against infectious diseases. Read more
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Watch these dates!

21 June: Pacific Health Summit, Seattle, USA
28 June: 4th Global Fund Partnership Forum Conference, Sao Paulo, Brasil
26-30 October: 42nd Union World Conference on Lung Health, Lille, France
8-11 July: 3rd Asia-Pacific Regional Union Conference on Lung Health, Hong Kong
6-8 June: National Tuberculosis Research Conference, Gondar, Ethiopia

USEFUL LINKS!
To download the 2010 report with new WHO data, Multidrug and Extensively Drug-Resistant Tuberculosis: 2010 Global Report on Surveillance and Response, click here

To download or read the Global Plan to Stop TB (2006-2015), click here
To download or read The Stop TB Strategy, click here

To subscribe to the global Stop-TB eForum, established by Health and Development Networks (HDN), and now managed by the Stop TB Partnership, International Union Against Tuberculosis and Lung Disease (The Union) and International HIV/AIDS Alliance, send an email to: join-stop-tb@eforums.healthdev.org

To download or read the Patients' Charter for Tuberculosis Care (PCTC), click here

To download or read the International Standards of Tuberculosis Care (ISTC), click here

Know more about: Advocacy to Control TB Internationally (ACTION), AIDS and Rights Alliance for Southern Africa (ARASA), International Union Against Tuberculosis and Lung Disease (The Union), TB Action Group (Kenya), TB Alert, TB/HIV Care Association, TuBerculosis Vaccine Initiative (TBVI), World Care Council, [to feature your organisation, send an email to: bobby@citizen-news.org]
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Produced voluntarily by: CNS Stop-TB Initiative, and Abhinav Bharat Foundation (ABF) - partners of Stop TB Partnership, with technical assistance from CNS News Monitoring Initiative (CNS-NMI)

Scientists Launch Vaccine Research Foundation

(Source: PR Wire News, USA)

Fourteen leading scientists and advocacy experts in vaccines and infectious diseases have announced the formation of a new international Foundation to advance and accelerate vaccine research and development against infectious diseases. The Foundation for Vaccine Research will be headquartered in Washington, DC. The Foundation's mission is to raise global awareness of the need for increased, long-term, flexible funding for vaccine research against HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, malaria, and other infectious diseases, including neglected tropical diseases, as well as universal vaccines for influenza and a vaccine to avert pandemic influenza. The Foundation's activities will focus on persuading opinion leaders, policymakers inside and outside government, and other decision makers of the benefits and safety of vaccines and the merits of increased investment in vaccine research. The Foundation will seek to mobilize resources internationally and on a large scale to finance vaccine research globally, with a special focus on securing new assets and the development of innovative financing mechanisms. The Foundation will also conduct televised fundraising events and benefit concerts, with 100 percent of publicly donated funds going directly to teams of scientists and their institutions. The Foundation will also engage with the anti-vaccine movement to persuade them of the benefits of vaccines. Read more

Closures will increase TB threat to Aust

(Source: The Sydney Morning Herald, Australia)

Closing tuberculosis clinics in the Torres Strait will see the disease re-establish itself in mainland Australia, a tropical health expert warns. The Queensland government will close TB clinics in the Torres Strait at the end of the month.

The clinics have been used primarily to treat PNG nationals who are unable to access treatment in their own country. James Cook University Professor Ian Wronski said the decision would ultimately result in the infectious lung disease re-emerging in Australia.

"(If this goes ahead) TB will re-establish firstly in tropical Australia and then move down," he told AAP. The planned closure has been seen as an attempt to persuade the PNG government to improve health services in its western province. Read more

Manipur first in region to test multi drug-resistant tuberculosis

(Source: The Telegraph, West Bengal, India)

Manipur will have the first centre in the Northeast to treat multi drug-resistant TB, with one of the four national reference centres assuring the state’s intermediate reference laboratory of accreditation, in order to function as a national reference laboratory. A team from Delhi’s Lala Ram Swarup Hospital, one of the four national reference laboratories of the country for testing multi drug-resistant TB, visited the state’s intermediate reference laboratory at the medical department’s research and development wing at Lamphelpat of Imphal West last month.

“The team was satisfied with our laboratory and work. They assured us that accreditation would be given to our laboratory as a national reference laboratory within three months,” state TB officer Ak. Khamba told The Telegraph. The intermediate reference laboratory was opened on March 19 this year for Manipur, Nagaland and Mizoram. The Centre also sanctioned an intermediate reference laboratory for Assam, Arunachal Pradesh and Sikkim. Only the Imphal laboratory is functioning so far. The officer said so far, 16 blood samples from Imphal and Imphal East were tested for multi drug-resistant TB at the laboratory. Of them, nine tested positive. Read more

A TB centre in Ojha that doesn’t believe in just treating the illness

(Source: The Express Tribune, Karachi, Pakistan) 

There are an estimated 17,000 people in Pakistan who suffer from Multi Drug Resistant (MDR) tuberculosis (TB). About 3,000 of them live in Sindh. MDR shows up in patients with TB who are not treated properly. Right now, Pakistan bears 55 per cent of the TB burden in the Eastern Mediterranean region and ranks eighth highest in the world. This makes TB a major public health problem.

One centre that deals with people suffering from the illness is the Ojha Institute of Chest Diseases (OICD). The centre, funded in part by the Dow University Hospital and private donors, admits on average between five and 10 patients while the clinics service up to 800 patients daily. At any time, about 200 patients are admitted in its wards. Read more

TB spread: Blame it on maids

(Source: The Times of India, Chandigarh, India)

CHANDIGARH: If your driver, cook or maid is coughing repeatedly, do not take it casually. He or she might be carrying multiple drug resistant tuberculosis (MDRTB), thus exposing you to the risk of an infection that is on the rise in city.

Records available at Revised National TB Control Programme (RNTCP), UT, state that five to six cases of this form of TB have been reported in the city every month during the past six months. This sort of periodicity has not been noticed during the previous years, say doctors, adding household workers who go unscreened, stop medication or develop resistance to TB drugs are likely to spread the infection in the urban dwellings where they work. Programme officer of RNTCP Dr Anil Garg said, ''In the last one year, we have sent 50-60 sputum samples for MDRTB.'' Read more

CNS Stop-TB News Monitor: 31 May - 6 June 2011

CNS Stop-TB News Monitor provides a snapshot of five major news pieces on tuberculosis (TB) prevention, treatment, care and support related issues, from around the world, particularly prioritising news highlights from TB high-burdened countries and links to major TB-related events or other advocacy opportunities. This is issue 1263 (31 May - 6 June 2011)

1- Reduce AIDS deaths by preventing and treating tuberculosis (TB): Study

(Source: Citizen News Service (CNS), India/Thailand)
A new study further builds upon the body of evidence that it is possible to save lives of people living with HIV (PLHIV) if we prevent and treat tuberculosis (TB). Read more 

2- Online TB diagnosis picking up: study
(Source: The Dawn News, Pakistan)
A study conducted in the peri-urban and rural areas of Sindh has shown that an online diagnosis of difficult tuberculosis (TB) cases is as accurate as face-to-face diagnosis. The online diagnosis of TB is one of the first few e-health initiatives in Pakistan that faces grave challenges in the fight against tuberculosis, though a national TB control programme has been in place in the country for over 15 years. Read more 

3- Refugees Can Be Effectively Treated To Prevent Tuberculo
(Source: Medical News Today, Australia)
Almost one in three recently arrived refugees in Darwin tested positive for latent tuberculosis infection (LTBI), research published in the latest Medical Journal of Australia has found. Researchers from the Centre for Disease Control, Northern Territory (CDC-NT) found that of 458 refugees screened between 1 February 2006 and 31 January 2009, 146 (31.9 per cent) were diagnosed with LTBI. LTBI implies past exposure to tuberculosis, leaving the individual susceptible to active infection later in life if not treated. Read more 

4- Involving industry in the fight against TB
(Source: Express Pharma Online News, India)
A new report shows that the private tuberculosis (TB) drug market is now as large as the public market. Given that the private market has irregular practices that could be driving treatment failures and the emergence of drug-resistant TB, it is imperative that policy makers expand Public-Private Mix (PPM) programmes. Read more

5- Farmers at risk of contracting tuberculosis
(Source:  Viet Nam News, Viet Nam)
According to the National Committee for Tuberculosis Prevention and Control, 76 per cent of tuberculosis patients in Viet Nam are farmers. A recent survey showed that people living in rural and densely populated areas were most at risk of contracting the disease. Read more
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Watch these dates!

21 June: Pacific Health Summit, Seattle, USA
28 June: 4th Global Fund Partnership Forum Conference, Sao Paulo, Brasil
26-30 October: 42nd Union World Conference on Lung Health, Lille, France
8-11 July: 3rd Asia-Pacific Regional Union Conference on Lung Health, Hong Kong
6-8 June: National Tuberculosis Research Conference, Gondar, Ethiopia

USEFUL LINKS!
To download the 2010 report with new WHO data, Multidrug and Extensively Drug-Resistant Tuberculosis: 2010 Global Report on Surveillance and Response, click here

To download or read the Global Plan to Stop TB (2006-2015), click here
To download or read The Stop TB Strategy, click here

To subscribe to the global Stop-TB eForum, established by Health and Development Networks (HDN), and now managed by the Stop TB Partnership, International Union Against Tuberculosis and Lung Disease (The Union) and International HIV/AIDS Alliance, send an email to: join-stop-tb@eforums.healthdev.org

To download or read the Patients' Charter for Tuberculosis Care (PCTC), click here

To download or read the International Standards of Tuberculosis Care (ISTC), click here

Know more about: Advocacy to Control TB Internationally (ACTION), AIDS and Rights Alliance for Southern Africa (ARASA), International Union Against Tuberculosis and Lung Disease (The Union), TB Alert, TB/HIV Care Association, TuBerculosis Vaccine Initiative (TBVI), World Care Council, [to feature your organisation, send an email to: bobby@citizen-news.org]
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Produced voluntarily by: CNS Stop-TB Initiative, and Abhinav Bharat Foundation (ABF) - partners of Stop TB Partnership, with technical assistance from CNS News Monitoring Initiative (CNS-NMI)

Farmers at risk of contracting tuberculosis

(Source:  Viet Nam News, Viet Nam) 

According to the National Committee for Tuberculosis Prevention and Control, 76 per cent of tuberculosis patients in Viet Nam are farmers. A recent survey showed that people living in rural and densely populated areas were most at risk of contracting the disease.

The provinces with the highest rate of tuberculosis infection are Sõon La, Cao Bang, Bac Kan, Tuyeâên Quang, Vinh Phuc and Hai Phong – all in the north of the country. Health workers say farmers are most at risk because they tend to be poor, live in polluted and humid conditions and have limited access to health care. Read more

Involving industry in the fight against TB

(Source: Express Pharma Online News, India)

A new report shows that the private tuberculosis (TB) drug market is now as large as the public market. Given that the private market has irregular practices that could be driving treatment failures and the emergence of drug-resistant TB, it is imperative that policy makers expand Public-Private Mix (PPM) programmes

Tuberculosis (TB) is widely considered a public health concern and its treatment a public sector responsibility. But according to a study published recently in the journal PLoS ONE, the in the private sector TB treatment is ignored at our peril. Across 10 high-burden countries, there is as much TB drug volumes in the private sector as is in the public sector — and at least a third of all private sector dosages of first-line TB drugs fall outside national and international treatment recommendations. Any resulting drug misuse could be responsible for many treatment failures and for escalating the emergence of multi-drug-resistant TB (MDR-TB), which is further worsening the TB epidemic. Read more

Refugees Can Be Effectively Treated To Prevent Tuberculo

(Source: Medical News Today, Australia) 

Almost one in three recently arrived refugees in Darwin tested positive for latent tuberculosis infection (LTBI), research published in the latest Medical Journal of Australia has found. Researchers from the Centre for Disease Control, Northern Territory (CDC-NT) found that of 458 refugees screened between 1 February 2006 and 31 January 2009, 146 (31.9 per cent) were diagnosed with LTBI. LTBI implies past exposure to tuberculosis, leaving the individual susceptible to active infection later in life if not treated.

More than three in four of those diagnosed accepted treatment, and about half of those completed treatment. All refugees aged 11 years and older who are being considered for entry into Australia are screened for active tuberculosis, and must be treated and cured before arriving in Australia. Read more

Ray of Hope for TB Patients

(Source: All Africa News, 02 June 2011)
"Once the machines are made available, it will take two hours to test MDR- TB in a person, a process that used to take between three and four months and most patients would have died before results came out," he said. He said worse off, the old tests were conducted using machines invented almost 100 years ago. Dr Sandy added that there is no rapid TB test as yet. It could be available around 2015.

He said existing tests show poor performance in diagnosing TB in children, people living with HIV/Aids, and extra-pulmonary forms of the disease. "TB patients are still to date left with either fair access to poor diagnostics or poor access to fair diagnostics. "But with the new machine, results can be available while a patient waits in a clinic. Read more

Calls to keep Torres Strait TB clinics open

(Source: National Affairs, 02 June 2011)
Dr Waring applauded the drive for self-sufficiency but warned it could take decades, by which time the disease could mutate into the drug-resistant XDR-TB strain, which is resistant to most treatments. "You're almost returning to 100 years ago when there were no drugs for TB and people were sent off to the mountains to live in sanatoriums," he said.

Coalition regional health spokesman Andrew Laming, a doctor, said the consequences could be "disastrous". "Ceasing these services can lead to multi-drug-resistant TB and the costs to Australia will be far in excess of the resources required to continue frontline treatment," he said. Read more

Online TB diagnosis picking up: study

(Source: The Dawn News, 02 June 2011)
A study conducted in the peri-urban and rural areas of Sindh has shown that an online diagnosis of difficult tuberculosis (TB) cases is as accurate as face-to-face diagnosis. The online diagnosis of TB is one of the first few e-health initiatives in Pakistan that faces grave challenges in the fight against tuberculosis, though a national TB control programme has been in place in the country for over 15 years.

Tuberculosis, which is a curable disease, annually claims lives of between 80,000 and 100,000 people in Pakistan, ranking sixth among the high disease burden countries in the world. The number of TB cases is estimated to be 171 per 100,000. Read more

TB Conference Opens in Kigali

(Source: All Africa News, 02 June 2011)
While officially opening the five-day conference, the Minister of Health, Dr Agnes Binagwaho, told participants that African countries need to embark on escalating health information surveillance for detection and monitoring of Multi-Drug Resistance (MDR), including drug-resistant tuberculosis across the continent.

"We are very happy to host such a high level meeting. It gives us an opportunity to better manage our health sectors. Tuberculosis knows no borders," said Binagwaho. "It is therefore up to all of us to play our part and strengthen surveillance, recording and reporting of these cases so that we ensure sustainability for control of this diseases," she noted. Read more