Findings in Tuberculosis Immunity Point Toward New Approaches to Treatment and Prevention

February 2nd, 2024byDr. Monica M. Bertagnolli

Tuberculosis, caused by the bacteriaMycobacterium tuberculosis(Mtb), took 1.3 million lives in 2022, making it the second leading infectious killeraround the world after COVID-19, according to the World Health Organization. Current TB treatments require months of daily medicine, and certain cases of TB are becoming increasingly difficult to treat because of drug resistance. While TB case counts had been steadily decreasing before the COVID-19 pandemic, theres been an uptick in the last couple of years.

Although a TB vaccine exists and offers some protection to young children, the vaccine, known asBCG, has not effectively prevented TB in adults. Developing more protective and longer lasting TB vaccines remains an urgent priority for NIH. As part of this effort, NIHs Immune Mechanisms of Protection AgainstMycobacterium tuberculosisCenters (IMPAc-TB) are working to learn more about how we can harness our immune systems to mount the best protection againstMtb. And Im happy to share some encouraging results now reported in the journalPLoS Pathogens, which show progress in understanding TB immunity and suggest additional strategies to fight this deadly bacterial infection in the future.