Meridian Life Science has announced that its portfolio of immunological reagents and services will help researchers meet challenges surrounding TB and HIV.
In 2007, a man vacationing in Europe had been diagnosed with TB and continued to expose other travellers as he travelled throughout the continent until he finally turned himself into authorities.
A businessman from Mexico infected with drug-resistant tuberculosis crossed the US border numerous times exposing workers, colleagues and family before his border card was revoked.
It is amazing to think that Mycobacterium tuberculosis has been present in the human population for what seems like an eternity.
Pathological signs of tubercular decay have been demonstrated in Egyptian mummies estimated to be from around 2400 BCE.
The history is long and filled with discoveries such as the introduction of the sanatorium cure by Hermann Brehmer, Robert Koch's staining technique that enabled him to see Mycobacterium tuberculosis and Selman Waksman's team that isolated actinomycin, an effective anti-TB antibiotic.
The hard work resulted in a steady drop in the incidence of TB until the 1980s when a gradual rise in the number of reported cases was observed.
In 2004, it was estimated that there were 16 million existing cases and 8.9 million new cases.
One of the contributing factors to this rise in incidence of TB is HIV.
TB is considered one of the leading causes of death among people with HIV/AIDS.
The challenges are many in the fight against TB - we need new and faster diagnostic tests, new drug therapies and new vaccines.
