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

• Treatment Outcomes for Tuberculosis Infection and Disease Among Persons Deprived of Liberty, Uganda, 2020
  Emerging Infectious Diseases, July 2024
• Ambitious clinical trial could bring first TB vaccine in a century
  Fogarty news, June 4, 2024
• Drug-Resistant Tuberculosis, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, and Ukraine, 2017–2022
  Emerging Infectious Diseases, April 2024
• Tuberculosis Preventive Treatment Update — U.S. President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, 36 Countries, 2016–2023
  Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR), March 21, 2024

Fogarty Grant Recipient & Trainee Publications

• TCA metabolism regulates DNA hypermethylation in LPS and Mycobacterium tuberculosis–induced immune tolerance, co-authored by former Fogarty Global Health Fellow Abhimanyu Abhimanyu
  Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, September 30, 2024
• Performance of a stool-based quantitative PCR assay for the diagnosis of tuberculosis in adolescents and adults: a multinational, prospective diagnostic accuracy study, co-authored by Fogarty International Research Scientist Alexander Kay
  The Lancet Microbe, March 7, 2024
  

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 October 7, 2024