A team of Indian researchers has been able to achieve 100-fold reduction in TB bacterial load in lungs of mice after 60 days of treatment using bergenin — a phytochemical isolated from tender leaves of sakhua or shala tree (Shorea robusta). Unlike the regularly used antibiotic drugs that target the TB bacteria, the bergenin compound... Continue Reading →
Breaking the drug-resistant TB transmission cycle important
Nearly two months after the Health Ministry set a highly ambitious target of working towards elimination of tuberculosis by 2025, a study published in The Lancet Infectious Diseases indicates that India’s TB crisis is all set to snowball by 2040 when one in 10 cases could be drug-resistant. What is even more alarming is that the increased... Continue Reading →
IISc team unravels how vitamin C helps kill bacteria
That vitamin C, an anti-oxidant agent, boosts and strengthens immunity is well known. Its ability to speed-up recovery from tuberculosis and impede the TB causing bacteria from causing disease, and even kill the bacteria in culture at high concentration are also known. Now, a study by a team of researcher at the Indian Institute of... Continue Reading →
IISc’s potent molecules show promise for TB therapy
Scientists at the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) Bengaluru have developed two new, potent molecules that can severely impact the survival of mycobacteria, including Mycobacterium tuberculosis that causes TB. The results were published in the journal Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy. Unlike most antibiotics that target the bacterial metabolism by aiming at the cellular components, the... Continue Reading →
Without a magic wand, India cannot eliminate TB by 2025
At the end of 50 years of tuberculosis control activities, the disease remains a major health challenge in India. As per new estimates, the number of new cases every year has risen to 2.8 million and mortality is put at 4,80,000 each year. These figures may go up when the national TB prevalence survey is... Continue Reading →
Why is TB bacteria not on WHO’s deadly superbug list?
Of the estimated 10.4 million new tuberculosis cases globally in 2015, nearly 0.5 million estimated cases were multidrug-resistant (MDR) TB cases. Another nearly one million were resistant to rifampicin drug alone. India accounted for 2.84 million new cases in 2015, of which 79,000 had MDR-TB. There were 1.4 million TB deaths worldwide in 2015. For... Continue Reading →
Nandita: Deaf but not out
When she woke up after a short afternoon nap on November 22, 2013, two days after her 24th birthday, Nandita Venkatesan could see her mother and brother talking to her but could understand nothing; she could hear sounds but could not comprehend them. The noisy world around her almost fell silent. Her hearing loss was... Continue Reading →
Mumbai researchers use blood samples to diagnose pulmonary TB, MDR-TB
Mumbai-based researchers have identified two microRNA biomarkers present in serum samples that could potentially be used for TB diagnosis and TB disease prognosis. It could be used both for drug-sensitive pulmonary TB and MDR-TB diagnosis. The results were published in the journal Tuberculosis. Compared with controls, the microRNA miR-16 level in 30 newly diagnosed drug-sensitive... Continue Reading →
Indian researchers enhance BCG vaccine efficacy using anti-leprosy drug
Indian researchers have been able to bring about more than 50-fold improvement in the efficacy of the commonly used TB vaccine — Bacillu Calmette Guerin (BCG) — by giving mice anti-leprosy drug (clofazimine) for a month along with a single dose of the vaccine. The duration of protection lasted till the end of the trial protocol... Continue Reading →
