Homerton University Hospital’s TB Team have been awarded the UK-wide 2015 Bevan Prize at an event in Westminster. This follows hot on the heels of their success in the TB Alert’s Sir John Crofton Prize for TB Nursing. The Bevan Foundation’s annual prize, which is sponsored by UNISON, The Open University and the Aneurin Bevan Society, is […]
Multi-drug resistant TB passed on less than drug-susceptible TB, study shows
A study published this week in PLOS Medicine has found that some strains of multi-drug resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB) may have a lower fitness (be less capable of spreading) than drug-susceptible tuberculosis bacteria. The study, conducted by Louis Grandjean of Imperial College London, and colleagues, compared new tuberculosis cases among household contacts of tuberculosis patients in […]
Oxford Immunotec brave the elements for TB Alert
Thank you and congratulations to all the Oxford Immunotec triathletes who took part in the Blenheim Palace Triathlon, to raise a fantastic £369 – and counting – for TB Alert. Fuelled by scotch eggs and sausage rolls, the Oxford Immunotec teams smashed their record for overall team time: with Team A placing a proud 21st […]
London Assembly review into Tuberculosis (TB) in London
The London Assembly Health Committee is seeking written submissions from stakeholders as part of its investigation into tuberculosis in London. London has amongst the highest incidence of TB disease in any western capital city, and almost 40 per cent of all UK cases occur in London. There are significant variations in the number of cases in different areas […]
First draft of the next Global Plan to Stop TB 2016-2020 shared for review
The Stop TB Partnership has launched an online consultation into the first public draft of the Global Plan to Stop TB 2016-2020. The consultation process is open to everyone to share information, ideas and experiences, and, will run from 10 June to 10 August 2015. The Plan will call for a paradigm shift from just […]
Urge your MP to endorse Barcelona Declaration to stop TB
The Stop TB Partnership is calling on Members of Parliament and elected officials to join the Global TB Caucus and sign the Barcelona Declaration, a call to action committing parliamentarians to take political leadership to secure an end to the tuberculosis epidemic within a generation. The Global TB Caucus will next meet in Cape Town […]
Oxford Immunotec triathletes hope to triumph for TB Alert
The fabulous people at Oxford Immunotec are teaming up to compete in the Blenheim Palace Triathlon, on 13 June, to raise money for TB Alert. The competition will be intense. Not only will they be competing against other teams, they will be competing against each other too. Four teams of three will be put forward from Oxford Immuotec. […]
New online tool to predict resistance to TB drugs
A free online research tool is now available to quickly identify which drugs could be used to treat a patient with tuberculosis (TB). The TB-Profiler tool, developed at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine (LSHTM), analyses and interprets genome sequence data to predict resistance to 11 drugs used for the treatment of TB. […]
Support for vulnerable patients
A study by TB Alert, on the needs of vulnerable patients during their TB treatment, has been published in the April 2015 Journal of Public Health. Abstract Despite well-established treatment regimens, tuberculosis (TB) remains a public health burden; it disproportionately affects poor and marginalized populations who may not have access to social support, including migrants, homeless […]
TB and diabetes, experts warn of dual epidemic
One of the fastest emerging risk factors for TB is diabetes. Diabetes triples an individual’s risk of developing TB and makes TB diagnosis and treatment more difficult. Nearly 400 million people suffer from diabetes worldwide, this is expected to rise to nearly 592 million people by 2035 – a rapidly increasing number of whom live in developing countries where […]