Tuberculosis


Tuberculosis is one of the most prevalent infections in the world. One in three worldwide is infected with the mycobacterium that causes the disease. Amongst those with active infections, nearly 1.5 million die each year.  The majority of these deaths occur in Sub-Saharan Africa, although Southeast Asia is experiencing the fastest growing prevalence  in the world.

tb-surface
Mycobacterium tuberculosis
(Photo: Tom Alber)

Although TB is a global epidemic, research funding has lagged far behind disease burden. For example, most of the existing first-line therapies for TB are decades old; they are also unwieldy, requiring patients to take one or more antibiotics daily for 6 to 8 months. In low-resource settings, adherence to treatment is poor, driven by inability to pay for drugs, unreliable drug supplies, adverse side effects, and lack of information about treatment benefits. As a result, many developing countries are experiencing a surge in multi-drug resistant TB.

To fight the spread of drug resistant strains, new TB drug targets and inhibitors are needed. In addition, modern methods for diagnosis and  prevention must be developed, particularly for use in low-resource settings. There is no adult-appropriate vaccine against TB, and the most common diagnostic is 100 years old. Given the high co-incidence of HIV and TB, there is a need for vaccines and diagnostics that are safe to use in HIV positive patients, as well as fast-acting drugs that can be used alongside potent anti-retroviral therapies.


Tom Alber, Professor, Molecular and Cell Biology, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory


James Berger, Professor, Molecular and Cell Biology


Carolyn Bertozzi, Professor, Chemistry


Wayne Getz, Professor, College of Natural Resources, Department of Environmental Science, Policy and Management


Lee Riley, Professor, Epidemiology, Infectious Disease

 

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