News 2024
27.03.2024
Multidrug-resistant tuberculosis
Antibiotic resistance is one of the challenges facing mankind in the 21st century. This includes antibiotic-resistant tuberculosis, a topic for which the Research Center Borstel has particular expertise. Just in time for World Tuberculosis Day 2024, the journal Nature Reviews Disease Primers published a comprehensive overview of multidrug-resistant tuberculosis. In this review, international experts from various medical disciplines shed light on the relevant topics of this complex disease, including epidemiology, transmission, prevention, diagnosis and treatment.
21.03.2024
New pioneering Leibniz Lab to combat future pandemics
The new Leibniz Lab "Pandemic Preparedness: One Health, One Future" links excellent inter- and transdisciplinary research from 41 Leibniz institutes. For the first time in Germany, pathogen-oriented sciences (virology, bacteriology, mycology and immunology) are collaborating with other life sciences such as ecology, health technologies, health economics and educational research. This new instrument of the Leibniz Association will be funded for three years with three million euro. The aim of the Leibniz Lab is to pool research in these areas in order to prepare, to prevent and to respond better to future pandemics and to make the knowledge gained available to policymakers in the form of evidence-based recommendations for action.
21.03.2024
Tuberculosis epidemiology in people of Ukrainian origin in the European Union and the European Economic Area, 2019 – 2022
Ukraine has a tuberculosis (TB) notification rate about six times higher than the total rate in the European Union and the European Economic Area (EU/EEA) and is a high-priority country in regards to drug-resistant TB. According to Eurostat data, approximately 5 million Ukrainians have been displaced to the countries of the EU/EEA since the start of the Russia – Ukraine war.
In close collaboration with the European Center for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC), we evaluated the tuberculosis epidemiology in Ukrainians notified in the EU/EEA from 2019 to 2022 by using routinely collected surveillance data.
18.03.2024
We have an implementation problem
After to COVID-19, tuberculosis is the second most common fatal infectious disease in the world. In recent decades, the control of tuberculosis has been made more difficult by the emergence of multidrug-resistant strains of tuberculosis bacteria. Following the development of new drugs, the prognosis for patients suffering from multidrug-resistant tuberculosis has improved considerably. As a result, the World Health Organization (WHO) published new guidelines in autumn 2022 to treat multidrug-resistant tuberculosis with more effective drugs over a shorter period of time. New regimens require only 6 months of therapy, instead of 18 months previously. The new regimen only includes tablets and is free of injections.
16.02.2024
New active ingredient for the treatment of tuberculosis
A recent clinical study shows that ganfeborole could be a promising candidate for the safe and effective treatment of pulmonary tuberculosis. Using microbiological testing and innovative imaging techniques, an international research team was able to prove the efficacy of this novel agent and pave the way for further clinical trials. The results have now been published in the renowned journal Nature Medicine.