{"id":2401,"date":"2023-06-12T15:55:45","date_gmt":"2023-06-12T15:55:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/horizon.peachpuff-wolverine-566518.hostingersite.com\/?p=2401"},"modified":"2023-06-12T15:55:45","modified_gmt":"2023-06-12T15:55:45","slug":"eradicating-deadly-tuberculosis-with-better-tests-and-treatment","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/horizon\/2401\/eradicating-deadly-tuberculosis-with-better-tests-and-treatment\/","title":{"rendered":"Eradicating deadly tuberculosis with better tests and treatment"},"content":{"rendered":"

European researchers are tackling the world\u2019s most lethal infectious disease as part of efforts to end it by 2035.<\/p>\n

By Anthony King<\/p>\n

Dr Cristina Vilaplana is a medical doctor passionate about helping patients with tuberculosis (TB). Her research could make a difference to a lot of people.<\/p>\n

Each year globally, around 10 million adults and children fall ill with TB and 1.6 million people die. This makes it the world\u2019s leading infectious-disease killer.<\/p>\n

Top threat<\/strong><\/p>\n

While countries with high TB rates<\/a>\u00a0include China, India, Indonesia, Pakistan and the Philippines, Europe<\/a>\u00a0also still faces the disease.<\/p>\n

\u2018You might think TB is eradicated in Europe, but this is not the case,\u2019 said Vilaplana, who works at the Germans Trias i Pujol Research Institute, or IGTP, in Barcelona, Spain.<\/p>\n

She points to a persistence of high numbers of TB in small pockets\u00a0\u2013 mostly socially deprived communities\u00a0\u2013 across the continent.<\/p>\n

Although the disease was temporarily knocked off the top spot by Covid-19, lockdowns and disruptions during the pandemic meant that fewer people were diagnosed and treated for TB than usual, storing up trouble.<\/p>\n

In March this year, the World Health Organization (WHO) warned<\/a>\u00a0that TB deaths in the European region increased in 2021 compared with 2020. This is the first time in 20 years TB cases have been on the rise, prompting concerns about the feasibility of a goal to end the disease by 2035.<\/p>\n

Lasting damage<\/strong><\/p>\n

Like Covid-19, TB is spread through the air from one person to another. People infected with the tuberculosis bacteria can remain symptom-free.<\/p>\n

Once the disease takes hold, however, the patient suffers both from the damage caused by the bacteria itself and from the inflammation that results as the body fights back.<\/p>\n

Currently, about half of all tuberculosis patients are left with permanent damage. This means that, even when cured of the bacterial infection, they may still have a lasting effect that leaves them struggling to breathe when carrying out daily activities such as walking.<\/p>\n

\u2018Patients are cured but don\u2019t feel better,\u2019 Vilaplana said. \u2018I want them to feel better.\u2019<\/p>\n

The insight led her to test some existing, common anti-inflammatory medications in mice with TB. When the mice were given ibuprofen or aspirin, their lungs suffered less damage.<\/p>\n

As a result, the EU-funded SMA-TB<\/a> project led by Vilaplana is investigating<\/a>\u00a0whether these widely available and relatively safe drugs could potentially also help patients with TB recover more fully from the disease.<\/p>\n

The project, which began in January 2020, runs through June 2024.<\/p>\n

It will feed data from the TB patients into a medical algorithm with the aim of predicting the course of the disease and identifying those people who will respond best to anti-inflammatory drugs. This will help doctors come up with more personalised options for patients to recover better.<\/p>\n

Urine, breath tests<\/strong><\/p>\n

Across Europe, researchers are exploring new ways to tackle the disease.<\/p>\n

\u2018TB is far from eradicated,\u2019 said Dr Jose Dominguez, a tuberculosis researcher who is also based at the IGTP and leads another EU-funded project called\u00a0INNOVA4TB<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Combining expertise from 16 research institutions in six countries, the initiative is seeking simpler ways of diagnosing TB and groundbreaking treatments for it. The project started in January 2019 and runs through June 2024.<\/p>\n

One strand being investigated is finding new biomarkers \u2013 a biological indicator of the body\u2019s internal condition such as blood pressure or cholesterol levels \u2013 to make diagnosis quicker, cheaper and more accessible.<\/p>\n

For example, the researchers have discovered tell-tale molecules in urine that are not only able to diagnose the illness but can potentially flag when a person is moving from a sleeping, or \u201clatent\u201d, infection\u00a0<\/em>to an active one.<\/p>\n

This is important because, while people in the transition stage to active TB may not yet have symptoms, they can still be contagious and spread the disease to family and friends.<\/p>\n

\u2018If you can identify patients who will suffer from tuberculosis, you could treat them with drugs and avoid progression,\u2019 said Dominguez.<\/p>\n

Work is also underway on ways to diagnose TB simply by testing a person\u2019s breath.<\/p>\n

These two diagnostic approaches have several advantages over the existing sputum test, which requires patients to cough up mucus from the lungs. For one, they will be less unpleasant for people, especially children, who struggle with the sputum test.<\/p>\n

The new tests will also be easy to conduct outside a hospital setting and the results will be available quickly\u00a0\u2013 elements that could be useful in poorer countries and rural regions.<\/p>\n

Resistant strains <\/strong><\/p>\n

A worrying development has been\u00a0the emergence of drug-resistant TB, especially in countries like Moldova and Ukraine.<\/p>\n

First-line antibiotics don\u2019t work in such cases and the drugs given to patients instead can have serious side effects.<\/p>\n

Moreover, it can take 18 months fully to treat drug-resistant forms of the disease.<\/p>\n

\u2018Imagine taking pills for one and a half years,\u2019 said Dominguez. \u2018It is not easy for patients to follow this treatment.\u2019<\/p>\n

A team of INNOVA4TB researchers is developing and evaluating a test<\/a> that can tell whether a person is infected with drug-resistant TB within three hours, allowing doctors to start treatment immediately.<\/p>\n

Evaluations of the test in different locations are due to start soon in both Europe and India.<\/p>\n

Another team is using DNA sequencing to identify and monitor drug-resistant TB strains in Ukraine and Moldova. This will help ensure that treatments offered are the most effective available.<\/p>\n

New drugs, deliveries<\/strong><\/p>\n

On the treatment front, the researchers have honed in on the marine environment as a rich source of potential new antimicrobial agents and are working to isolate new strains of Actinobacteria from the Black Sea with a view to developing new treatment options.<\/p>\n

The project is also exploring new ways of delivering drugs deeper into the lungs. Traditionally this goal has been challenging because the lungs\u2019 natural defense mechanisms work to remove or inactivate anything that appears foreign.<\/p>\n

Nanoparticles are emerging as a good vehicle for drug delivery and this area has interesting potential, according to Dominguez.<\/p>\n

He said such future treatments could perhaps be delivered via a spray directly to the lungs.<\/p>\n

\u2018The project is trying to help both European citizens and worldwide TB patients,\u2019 said Dominguez.<\/p>\n

This article was originally published\u202fin <\/em>Horizon<\/em><\/a>, the EU Research and Innovation Magazine.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

European researchers are tackling the world\u2019s most lethal infectious disease as part of efforts to end it by 2035. By Anthony King Dr Cristina Vilaplana is a medical doctor passionate about helping patients with tuberculosis (TB). Her research could make a difference to a lot of people. Each year globally, around 10 million adults and … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":298,"featured_media":2402,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"generate_page_header":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2401","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-health"],"yoast_head":"\nEradicating deadly tuberculosis with better tests and treatment - Horizon Magazine Blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/horizon\/2401\/eradicating-deadly-tuberculosis-with-better-tests-and-treatment\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Eradicating deadly tuberculosis with better tests and treatment\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"European researchers are tackling the world\u2019s most lethal infectious disease as part of efforts to end it by 2035. 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Today, there are 10 million new cases worldwide and\u00a01.6 million deaths\u00a0from the disease every year. Increasingly, these cases are becoming difficult to treat as the bug that causes the disease can be resistant to antibiotics. 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This may sound like an outlandish scenario, but it\u2019s not. Researchers\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Health"","block_context":{"text":"Health","link":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/horizon\/category\/health\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Researchers in Europe are working on elastic membrane patches that mimic how the skin looks and feels and can collect information related to the wearer. Image credit - Aaron Lee\/Unsplash","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/scienceblog.com\/horizon\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2020\/11\/aaron-lee-.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/scienceblog.com\/horizon\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2020\/11\/aaron-lee-.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/scienceblog.com\/horizon\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2020\/11\/aaron-lee-.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/scienceblog.com\/horizon\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2020\/11\/aaron-lee-.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/scienceblog.com\/horizon\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2020\/11\/aaron-lee-.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/scienceblog.com\/horizon\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2020\/11\/aaron-lee-.jpg?resize=1400%2C800&ssl=1 4x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1928,"url":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/horizon\/1928\/electronic-skin-patches-could-restore-lost-sensation-and-detect-disease-2\/","url_meta":{"origin":2401,"position":2},"title":"Electronic skin patches could restore lost sensation and detect disease","author":"Horizon Magazine","date":"January 5, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"This article was originally published on 28 October 2020. Picture this: You\u2019ve experienced no physical sensation beyond your wrists for years, then a doctor drapes a thin, flexible membrane over your hand and, like magic, you can feel the trickle of water through your fingers again. \u00a0 This may sound\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Health"","block_context":{"text":"Health","link":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/horizon\/category\/health\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/scienceblog.com\/horizon\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2022\/01\/aaron-lee-.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/scienceblog.com\/horizon\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2022\/01\/aaron-lee-.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/scienceblog.com\/horizon\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2022\/01\/aaron-lee-.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/scienceblog.com\/horizon\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2022\/01\/aaron-lee-.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/scienceblog.com\/horizon\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2022\/01\/aaron-lee-.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1023,"url":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/horizon\/1023\/can-we-reverse-antibiotic-resistance\/","url_meta":{"origin":2401,"position":3},"title":"Can we reverse antibiotic resistance?","author":"Horizon Magazine","date":"October 21, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"by Vittoria D'Alessio In the battle against antibiotic resistance, some scientists are trying a new approach: re-sensitising bacteria to drugs they no longer respond to so that existing antibiotics can hit their target once more. \u2018This is a sustainable and straightforward approach to the problem of antibiotic resistance,\u2019 said Fredrik\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Health"","block_context":{"text":"Health","link":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/horizon\/category\/health\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) have had their antibiotic resistance reversed in Prof. Almqvist's lab. Image credit - Pixnio\/ Janice Haney Carr, Jeff Hageman, M.H.S, USCDCP, licensed under CC0","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/scienceblog.com\/horizon\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2019\/10\/1589px-Methicillin-resistant_Staphylococcus_aureus_10047.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/scienceblog.com\/horizon\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2019\/10\/1589px-Methicillin-resistant_Staphylococcus_aureus_10047.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/scienceblog.com\/horizon\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2019\/10\/1589px-Methicillin-resistant_Staphylococcus_aureus_10047.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/scienceblog.com\/horizon\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2019\/10\/1589px-Methicillin-resistant_Staphylococcus_aureus_10047.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/scienceblog.com\/horizon\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2019\/10\/1589px-Methicillin-resistant_Staphylococcus_aureus_10047.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/scienceblog.com\/horizon\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2019\/10\/1589px-Methicillin-resistant_Staphylococcus_aureus_10047.jpg?resize=1400%2C800&ssl=1 4x"},"classes":[]},{"id":2916,"url":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/horizon\/2916\/eu-takes-the-lead-in-the-search-for-new-mpox-treatments\/","url_meta":{"origin":2401,"position":4},"title":"EU takes the lead in the search for new mpox treatments","author":"Horizon Magazine","date":"November 28, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"As the monkeypox virus continues to pose a threat to global health, EU-funded researchers are working together with international partners to manage the disease and protect the most vulnerable. By Michaela Nesvarova On a Sunday evening in June 2022, a patient walked into a hospital in Rio de Janeiro. \u201cI\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Health"","block_context":{"text":"Health","link":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/horizon\/category\/health\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"International collaboration is crucial when dealing with infectious diseases","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/scienceblog.com\/horizon\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2024\/11\/28.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/scienceblog.com\/horizon\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2024\/11\/28.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/scienceblog.com\/horizon\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2024\/11\/28.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/scienceblog.com\/horizon\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2024\/11\/28.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/scienceblog.com\/horizon\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2024\/11\/28.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/scienceblog.com\/horizon\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2024\/11\/28.jpg?resize=1400%2C800&ssl=1 4x"},"classes":[]},{"id":95,"url":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/horizon\/95\/skeleton-teeth-and-historical-photography-are-retelling-the-story-of-the-plague\/","url_meta":{"origin":2401,"position":5},"title":"Skeleton teeth and historical photography are retelling the story of the plague","author":"Aisling Irwin","date":"January 16, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"New portraits of the evolution of some of history\u2019s deadliest pandemics have been created through analysis of thousands of skeletons and new collections of historical photographs - and the results could indicate how similar diseases may evolve in the future. Genetic material from infectious diseases such as tuberculosis and the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Health"","block_context":{"text":"Health","link":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/horizon\/category\/health\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Scientists have unearthed photographs taken in countries including China during third plague pandemic, which killed 12 million people between the mid-19th and mid-20th centuries.","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/scienceblog.com\/horizon\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2018\/01\/Plague_Workers_Mukden_Manchuria_crop.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/scienceblog.com\/horizon\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2018\/01\/Plague_Workers_Mukden_Manchuria_crop.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/scienceblog.com\/horizon\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2018\/01\/Plague_Workers_Mukden_Manchuria_crop.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/scienceblog.com\/horizon\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2018\/01\/Plague_Workers_Mukden_Manchuria_crop.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/horizon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2401","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/horizon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/horizon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/horizon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/298"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/horizon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2401"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/horizon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2401\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/horizon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2402"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/horizon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2401"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/horizon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2401"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/horizon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2401"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}