Tuberculosis (TB) news, resources and funding for global health researchers

A major cause of death and disability worldwide, tuberculosis is a contagious lung disease that spreads through the air when people infected with it cough, sneeze, talk or spit. TB is caused by a bacterium called Mycobacterium tuberculosis, which usually attacks the lungs, but can affect other parts of the body like the kidney, spine and brain. The disease can be fatal if not treated properly.

According to the World Health Organization, there are almost 2 million TB-related deaths each year, and more than 9 million people around the world become sick with the disease annually. In 2009, almost 10 million children were orphaned as a result of parental deaths caused by TB. The spread of multidrug-resistant TB is a growing global threat, with hundreds of thousands of new cases emerging each year.

TB coinfection with HIV/AIDS is also a serious health issue and a leading cause of death worldwide among people with HIV. Several NIH research and research training programs are helping to reduce the impact of tuberculosis both in the U.S. and overseas.

Grant Awards Related to TB

• View a list of Fogarty grant awards related to tuberculosis (TB).

Recent News

• Developing customized stepwise MIRU-VNTR typing for tuberculosis surveillance in Georgia
  co-authored by Fogarty grantees Drs. Nestani Tukvadze and Henry Blumberg
  PLoS One, March 1, 2022
  
• Projects examine sex, behavior differences that impact men’s health :
  A study in Mali looks at how hormones influence immune responses to TB. A study in Vietnam tests a tobacco cessation intervention.
   Global Health Matters, Jan / Feb 2022
• Perspective: Covid-19’s Devastating Effect on Tuberculosis Care — A Path to Recovery
  co-authored by Fogarty trainees Dr. Madhukar Pai and Dr. Soumya Swaminathan
  New England Journal of Medicine, January 5, 2022
• Tuberculosis deaths rise for the first time in more than a decade due to the COVID-19 pandemic 
  WHO news release, October 14, 2021
  
• Grantee studies nanotechnology to help eradicate tuberculosis
  Q and A with Dr Admire Dube
  Global Health Matters, Nov / Dec 2020 
• Landmark [international] TB trial identifies shorter-course treatment regimen
  NIAID/NIH news, October 21, 2020
  
• Profile: Fogarty fellow Dr Mark Brady’s tuberculosis training in Peru useful in combatting COVID-19
  Global Health Matters, Jul / Aug 2020 
• New research tool supports scale-up of digital technologies to end TB
  TDR news, March 24, 2020
• Recent advances in addressing tuberculosis give hope for future
  NIAID/NIH news, February 11, 2020
  

NIH News and Resources

• National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) tuberculosis (TB) topic page
• National Library of Medicine's Medline Plus tuberculosis topic page

Other US Government Resources

• Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC):
  • Tuberculosis (TB) topic page
  • TB and HIV coinfection
• U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID):Tuberculosis

Other Online Resources

• World Health Organization (WHO)
• Tuberculosis topic page
• Tuberculosis fact sheet
• Global Tuberculosis Report
• World Bank: Tuberculosis control
• The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria

Updated May 6, 2022