By Theo Smart First published February 2, 2007 on AIDSmap.com. A large multicenter study conducted in Honduras and Brazil has shown that a new and relatively simple technique to detect active tuberculosis (TB), the microscopic observation drug susceptibility (MODS) test,…
By Robert Siliciano, MD, PhD Excerpts from testimony before the U.S. Senate Committee on Appropriations, March 19, 2007. The United States has long been the world leader in scientific discovery, thanks largely to government policies that encourage innovation, improve education,…
More Than Just Markers By Richard Jefferys "... no longer solely of interest to academic immunologists ..." At the recent International AIDS Society conference in Sydney, Mike Lederman reminded attendees that abnormally high levels of immune activation were described in the first…
By Theo Smart "You are more invested in the DOTS model -- which has failed [to contain] multidrug-resistant TB (MDR-TB) and which is now breeding extensively drug-resistant (XDR) TB -- than you are in saving lives," Mark Harrington, Executive Director…
TAG interviewed 100 institutions and documented the top 40 investors in TB R&D in 2005. Results highlighted in the report showed that new tools including diagnostics, drugs and vaccines received combined funding of $206 million in 2005 -- diagnostics, $16…
A Talk With Gavin Churchyard By Mark Harrington Professor Gavin Churchyard is the director of the Aurum Institute for Health Research, which provides health care services to many mining companies in South Africa but is also an independent health research…
By Theo Smart In all the news and hype about the cases of extensively drug resistant tuberculosis (XDR-TB) in KwaZulu Natal, South Africa, there has been surprisingly little discussion about how and where many of the people acquired the XDR-TB…
By Richard Jefferys The biggest obstacle to understanding how HIV causes immune damage is the complexity of the human immune system, a vast collection of different cells and tissues that typically work together in concert to protect against disease. HIV…
As this issue went to press, a paper appeared from Daniel Douek and colleagues reporting data which, the authors argue, further supports the model of HIV pathogenesis outlined in their Nature Immunology review. Douek's group had previously speculated that one…