Tuberculosis is old-;ancient even. The infectious bacterial disease that plagued Old Testament Israelites and took down pharaohs was eventually stunted by vaccinations, antibiotics, and public health measures like isolation, but it hasn't been cured yet.
Reviewed by Danielle Ellis, B.Sc.Sep 27 2023 More than a million people around the world still die from TB every year.
Igor Kramnik, study's corresponding author and a BU Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine associate professor of medicine But the latest work could help change that, according to Shivraj M. Yabaji, a NEIDL postdoctoral researcher. For 100 years, a vaccine-;bacille Calmette-Guérin -;has been the first line of defense against TB, albeit a somewhat ramshackle one. A recent study from Boston University showed that BCG has limited impact: researchers found itwas only about 37 percent effective in children under five years of age and offered no protection for adolescents and adults. And antibiotics, the fallback for those who do become infected, are losing their power.
A new treatment to enhance natural defenses against TB One of TB's biggest mysteries is why some people get sick when most others don't; in particular, why so many patients initially ward off infection, then eventually succumb to it. Kramnik is also interested in why the bacteria is so intent on destroying the lung, which enables its transmission by infectious aerosols.
To start, they used RNA sequencing-;a method for pinpointing which genes are expressed, or turned on-;hoping it would help them zero in on the "genetic signature that differentiates the normal/resistant and aberrant/susceptible activation states," says Kramnik. Using a test developed in collaboration with study coauthor Alexander A.
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