TB transmission and prevention

Tuberculosis (TB) bacteria can be transmitted when someone with active TB in their lungs coughs or sneezes. People whose immune system is keeping TB under control (latent TB) can take a course of medication known as isoniazid preventive therapy in order to reduce their risk of developing active TB disease. Research is ongoing into a vaccine that could be given to people with latent TB.

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TB transmission and prevention: latest news

TB transmission and prevention resources

  • Tuberculosis

    Tuberculosis (TB) is an infection that usually affects the lungs.It can be very serious, particularly for people living with HIV who have a low CD4 count.TB can...

    From: Factsheets

    Information level Level 2

  • TB and HIV

    If HIV has weakened your immune system, you are more vulnerable to tuberculosis (TB). TB is an infection caused by bacteria. It is a serious...

    From: The basics

    Information level Level 1

  • How TB is passed on

    The bacteria that cause tuberculosis (TB) can sometimes pass from one person to another through the air. TB bacteria can sometimes be spread through the...

    From: The basics

    Information level Level 1

TB transmission and prevention features

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TB transmission and prevention news from aidsmap

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TB transmission and prevention news selected from other sources

  • Uganda Launches Scale-up Plan for Tuberculosis Preventive Treatment

    The Minister of Health, Dr Jane Ruth Aceng, launched a 100-Day Accelerated Scale-up plan for Tuberculosis Preventive Treatment (TPT) targeting over 300 000 People Living with HIV and AIDS (PLHIV) in Uganda. The government will also provide TPT to all children aged 12 months or more living with HIV as well as HIV-negative infants and children aged 5 years or below who are household contacts of patients with pulmonary Tuberculosis. As part of the scale-up plan, Government will provide TPT at 1 947 Antiretroviral therapy (ART) sites across the country.

    08 July 2019 | World Health Organization

  • NIH launches large TB prevention trial for people exposed to multidrug-resistant TB

    A large clinical trial to assess treatments for preventing people at high risk from developing multidrug-resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB) has begun. The study is comparing the safety and efficacy of a new MDR-TB drug, delamanid, with the decades-old TB drug isoniazid for preventing active MDR-TB disease in children, adolescents and adults at high risk who are exposed to adult household members with MDR-TB.

    25 June 2019 | Eurekalert Medicine & Health

  • The TB in the air we breathe

    The new Aerobiology TB Research Facility at the Desmond Tutu HIV Foundation will operationalise leading technology for studying TB transmission, by capturing and analysing exhaled breath from patients recruited at two local clinics: one in Masiphumelele and another in the nearby township of Ocean View.

    10 May 2019 | Spotlight

  • Tshepiso study: Preventive TB therapy not associated with poor pregnancy outcomes

    Initiating isoniazid preventive therapy for tuberculosis during pregnancy is not associated with a higher rate of poor maternal or infant outcomes, according to observational results from the Tshepiso study presented at CROI.

    12 March 2019 | Healio

  • TB Preventive Therapy Safe in Pregnant Women

    Pregnant women who are infected with HIV and are at risk of tuberculosis co-infection can undergo isoniazid prevention therapy without causing harm to themselves or their babies, researchers suggested here.

    08 March 2019 | MedPage Today

  • 49th Union World Conference on Lung Health: Integrating HIV treatment and TB preventative therapy greatly improves IPT adherence

    When tuberculosis preventive therapy is delivered with HIV treatment services and patients get a choice in where they access treatment, completion of tuberculosis preventive therapy rises, helping to ensure people living with HIV stay healthy, researchers said here. This model of prevention should be scaled up in TB-HIV high burden settings, researchers said.

    05 November 2018 | Science Speaks

  • 49th Union World Conference on Lung Health: First promising TB vaccine candidate in 100 years needs more resources, researchers say

    It's taken 100 years to see any progress in the development of a vaccine to prevent tuberculosis, a disease that kills 4,000 every day, Lucica Ditiu, executive director of the Stop TB Partnership said here. Even now, it remains uncertain that a new vaccine will see the light of day, she said, as more funding has yet to be secured for larger-scale trials to confirm the promising results of the M72 vaccine candidate.

    29 October 2018 | Science Speaks

  • GSK candidate vaccine helps prevent active pulmonary tuberculosis in HIV negative adults in phase II study

    Today, GSK and Aeras reported that GSK’s M72/AS01E[1] candidate vaccine significantly reduced the incidence of pulmonary tuberculosis disease in HIV-negative adults with latent tuberculosis infection[2] in an ongoing phase IIb clinical trial testing. These primary results published in the New England Journal of Medicine after two years of trial demonstrate an overall vaccine efficacy of 54%, with varied response rates observed in different demographic sub-groups.

    26 September 2018 | Aeras

  • TB Treatment May Leave Some Patients Contagious

    The World Health Organization’s dosage guidelines for two leading tuberculosis medications may be far too low for patients with H.I.V., allowing them to remain contagious for longer than necessary, a new study has found.

    09 April 2018 | New York Times

  • TB vaccine trial results offer potential for BCG Revaccination, hope for subunit vaccines

    Aeras, a nonprofit organization dedicated to developing vaccines against tuberculosis (TB), today announced results from an innovative clinical trial that provides encouraging new evidence that TB vaccines could prevent sustained infections in high-risk adolescents. In a prevention-of-infection Phase 2 trial conducted in South Africa, revaccination with the Bacille Calmette-Guerin (BCG) vaccine significantly reduced sustained TB infections in adolescents. An experimental vaccine candidate, H4:IC31, also reduced sustained infections, although not at statistically significant levels.

    19 February 2018 | Eurekalert Medicine & Health
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Community Consensus Statement on Access to HIV Treatment and its Use for Prevention

Together, we can make it happen

We can end HIV soon if people have equal access to HIV drugs as treatment and as PrEP, and have free choice over whether to take them.

Launched today, the Community Consensus Statement is a basic set of principles aimed at making sure that happens.

The Community Consensus Statement is a joint initiative of AVAC, EATG, MSMGF, GNP+, HIV i-Base, the International HIV/AIDS Alliance, ITPC and NAM/aidsmap
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