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Calcutta News.NetMonday 24th January, 2011

A new TB vaccine has been developed by Danish scientists that may save millions of lives once testing is complete. The vaccine was featured in the leading medical journal ‘Nature Medicine’ and is unique because of its ability to fight tuberculosis before and after infection, a major breakthrough in the current treatment of the disease. TB is a major problem, especially in the developing world, and kills around 2 million people every year. one third of the world’s population are thought to be infected, with a new infection rate of one person every second. The disease is particularly difficult to treat because in 90% of cases it does not make itself apparent immediately after infection; instead, the bacterium, Mycobacterium tuberculosis, remains in a dormant state. In 10% of cases it later reactivates and presents the common symptoms of TB, such as a chesty cough, intense chest pain and eventually chronic weight loss. At this point, the disease becomes infectious. This makes the disease difficult to treat as it can become highly resistant to antibiotics and in its latent state it is virtually immune to existing vaccines. The current leading vaccine, the BCG, does not prevent TB infection; it only prevents the bacteria from becoming active. Therefore, patients can still develop the disease later in life when the vaccine wears off. However, the new vaccine, developed by a team at the Statens Serum Institute in Copenhagen, is able to trigger an immune response to both active and latent TB. The development is a major breakthrough, says Professor Peter Davies, secretary of the group TB Alert. Of particular importance is the efficacy the new vaccine may have in the treatment of Aids patients, the majority of aids sufferers ultimately die of TB due to their weakened immune systems. However, experts have warned that the vaccine has only been tested on rats and remains a long way from use by the general public. 

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