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Dr Kefyalew Alene, who heads the Geospatial and Tuberculosis team at The Kids and is a senior research fellow within the Curtin School of Population Health, has used cutting edge technology to transform the way TB transmission is predicted, understood and managed globally.
The first global review of the effectiveness of current strategies to fight tuberculosis has found preventive therapy is the most effective intervention strategy.
Worldwide, tuberculosis (TB) remains the leading cause of death from infectious diseases. Africa is the second most-affected region, accounting for a quarter of the global TB burden, but there is limited evidence whether there is subnational variation of TB prevalence across the continent. Therefore, this study aimed to estimate sub-national and local TB prevalence across Africa.
Country-level estimates can mask local geographic variations in progress toward achieving World Health Organization's End TB targets. This study aimed to identify spatial variations in progress toward achieving the TB incidence reduction target at a district level in Ethiopia.
Low tuberculosis (TB) case detection remains a major challenge in achieving the End TB targets. New strategies that consider local contexts are needed in countries with high TB burdens like Ethiopia. This study examined the effect of integrating traditional and modern TB care to increase the TB case detection rate.
Tuberculosis (TB) is caused by Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb) and is a leading cause of death. BCG is the only licensed TB vaccine. Preclinical studies have shown that in adults, intravenous administration of BCG improves protection against TB. We hypothesize that intradermal administration of BCG to the human newborn leads to low-grade BCG bacteremia and that this systemic dissemination improves protection against Mtb infection. This hypothesis is based on supporting observations including animal and human studies. It is a testable hypothesis and offers to deliver immediately actionable insight to advance the global efforts against TB.
Early diagnosis and treatment of tuberculosis (TB) is one of the key strategies to achieve the WHO End TB targets. This study aimed to develop and validate a simple, convenient risk score to diagnose pulmonary TB among presumptive TB cases.
Globally, tuberculosis (TB) is the leading infectious cause of morbidity and mortality, with the risk of infection affected by both individual and ecological-level factors. While systematic reviews on individual-level factors exist, there are currently limited studies examining ecological-level factors associated with TB incidence and mortality. This study was conducted to identify ecological factors associated with TB incidence and mortality.
Bacille Calmette-Guérin (BCG) is the most commonly administered vaccine in human history. The medical application of BCG extends far beyond the fight against tuberculosis. Despite its stellar medical record over 100 years, insight into how BCG provides this vast range of benefits is largely limited, both for its pathogen-specific (tuberculosis) as well as pathogen-agnostic (other infections, autoimmunity, allergies, and cancer) effects.
While undernutrition has been identified as a common risk factor for tuberculosis (TB), its impact on treatment outcomes has yet to be investigated in high TB burden and low-income countries such as Ethiopia. Therefore, this study aimed to investigate the effect of undernutrition on treatment outcomes among patients with TB in northwest Ethiopia.