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Deadly Tuberculosis Faces New Weapon as Vaccine Enters Tests
By Kanoko Matsuyama and Jason Gale
March 23 (Bloomberg) -- Scientists will start the largest study in almost a century on a new vaccine against tuberculosis, attempting to improve on an existing immunization that only partially protects against the deadliest bacterial illness.
The research will gauge the shot’s ability to prevent the lung disease in a trial starting next month involving 2,800 babies in South Africa, said Jerald Sadoff, head of Aeras Global TB Vaccine Foundation, which is co-sponsoring the study. The Rockville, Maryland-based group is trying to develop a successor to the Bacillus Calmette-Guérin vaccine, or BCG, which has been used in humans since 1921 and doesn’t prevent infants from developing TB of the lungs, where the bacteria first takes hold.
Tuberculosis has plagued man since prehistoric times. It infects about 8.8 million people and kills 1.7 million each year, according to the World Health Organization. Medicines used to battle the bacterium are increasingly failing because the airborne bug has mutated, spawning strains that aren’t defeated by even the most powerful antibacterial drugs.
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By Kanoko Matsuyama and Jason Gale
March 23 (Bloomberg) -- Scientists will start the largest study in almost a century on a new vaccine against tuberculosis, attempting to improve on an existing immunization that only partially protects against the deadliest bacterial illness.
The research will gauge the shot’s ability to prevent the lung disease in a trial starting next month involving 2,800 babies in South Africa, said Jerald Sadoff, head of Aeras Global TB Vaccine Foundation, which is co-sponsoring the study. The Rockville, Maryland-based group is trying to develop a successor to the Bacillus Calmette-Guérin vaccine, or BCG, which has been used in humans since 1921 and doesn’t prevent infants from developing TB of the lungs, where the bacteria first takes hold.
Tuberculosis has plagued man since prehistoric times. It infects about 8.8 million people and kills 1.7 million each year, according to the World Health Organization. Medicines used to battle the bacterium are increasingly failing because the airborne bug has mutated, spawning strains that aren’t defeated by even the most powerful antibacterial drugs.
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