New TB vaccine: mid-phase trials confirm safety, long-term prevention
A new study published on October 29, 2019, in the New England Journal of Medicine, reports a new vaccine which could change the face of tuberculosis prevention. The disease kills 1.5 million people worldwide each year.
The results were presented at the 50th Union World Conference on Lung Health in Hyderabad, India. The summit was convened by the International Union against Tuberculosis and Lung Disease. The prime benefit of the new vaccine is its ability to bring about a more robust and durable immune response that can potentially keep the immunized individual safe from tuberculosis lifelong.
A multinational team of researchers formulated the new vaccine using bacterial proteins and adjuvants which trigger a strong immune response. Calling it a “game-changer”, tuberculosis expert David Lewinsohn pointed out that the vaccine prevented the development of tuberculous disease in people who were already infected with the bacteria.
More trials on larger and more diverse groups will be necessary, in all probability, before licensing requirements are fulfilled, according to the researchers. They are confident that the results of such trials will confirm earlier results, leading to its approval. If so, says Lewinsohn, “This vaccine has the potential to revolutionize TB treatment.”
About tuberculosis
There are about 10 million people in the world with tuberculosis, according to 2018 figures released by the World Health Organization. Caused by the bacterium Mycobacterium tuberculosis, the disease leads to the formation of chronic inflammatory granulomas which erodes normal lung tissue and causes severe destruction. The condition spreads quickly from person to person, through tiny droplets in cough or sneeze aerosols. It can be prevented only by the Bacille Calmette-Guerin (BCG) vaccine or by the use of powerful anti-tuberculosis drugs following known potential exposure. Most adults are infected with M. tuberculosis, but the resulting conversion to active disease occurs in a very few, for reasons which are still unknown. This has led scientists to postulate that the bacterium induces natural immunity in the vast majority of infected people.
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