There is some really exciting news in the world of TB diagnostics. If you haven’t heard already, there is a new molecular diagnostic test developed by Cepheid that has the potential to transform how TB is detected. The GeneXpert MTB/RIF assay can detect TB and mutations associated with rifampicin resistance in less than two hours [...]
Tag archives for World Tuberculosis Day
Living with Tuberculosis: A Personal Note
World TB Day has a special meaning for me, and it is not just because of my job as a USAID Health Officer in Kazakhstan. It is because every morning for the past four months I have taken a daily isoniazid pill to treat my latent tuberculosis. Tuberculosis, or TB, is a contagious chronic bacterial [...]
Our Continued Common Struggle – World Tuberculosis Day 2012
Last year on this blog, I wrote about why the United States and Eastern Europe and Eurasia need to work together to fight against multi-drug resistant (MDR) – tuberculosis (TB) and extensively drug-resistant (XDR) –TB. In the world of modern travel, these diseases are a plane ride away from our shores. As we commemorate World [...]
USAID in the News
Weekly Briefing (3/21/2011–3/25/2011) March 22 The Sherman Oaks (CA) Patch reported that alongside a Fairfax, Virginia team, USAID dispatched 74 LA County firefighters to Japan two days after they returned from an earthquake rescue mission in New Zealand. In addition, six search and rescue dogs trained by the National Disaster Search Dog Foundation helped firefighters [...]
An Ancient Disease, A Modern Day Development Challenge, A Child Who Deserves a Future
By: Clydette Powell, Medical Officer, Division of Infectious Diseases We need a game changer that puts innovation for Tuberculosis diagnosis and treatment at the forefront of our global health agenda. Unsanitary and unhealthy realities bred by third world conditions provide the perfect opportunity for this ancient disease to continue to spread through vulnerable populations. There [...]
