India Reports Completely Drug-Resistant TB

[lafinjack]

Comments

[sadisticsidhe]

Well, it's mutated so it probably won't though it may provide some immunity I would think though I admit I'm not entirely sure. However, BCG has fallen out of favor in some countries (due to low TB burdens for example like almost no one in the US outside of some health care professionals, people who have lived outside the US, or have HIV have had it) and it's effectiveness is in question. It's not as effective as other vaccines out there (it's variable from 0-80%) and the protection wears off around age 20, it's a vaccine to protect children, not adults. Sort of like a pertussis or tetanus where one needs boosters but I don't think there are any TB boosters out there.

tl:dr vaccines won't save us, though I wish they would!

[benndragon]

Do you know if anyone is working on a new vaccine, given the highly resistant strains that now exist and all? (I don't expect anyone in Pharma to be doing it, but maybe in academia/non-profits. . .)

[sadisticsidhe]

Some people are working on it (like the NIH and Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation) and last I saw they had some success with mice and are starting a clinical trial, I think. But I don't know how it's going. I would suspect that they are just doing regular TB (because it is still the most prevelant because thankfully M/X/TDR-TB is still a minority). I couldn't tell you for certain though.

[benndragon]

Wait, why are you assuming you'd need a separate vaccine to protect against drug resistant TB? I mean, some surface proteins will change (with the addition of pumps to remove antibiotics from cells and the changing of gates to keep antibiotics from getting in to begin with), but probably not the ones that antibodies use to identify TB (yay for being a separate defense mechanism that hasn't been mucked up yet!).

[sadisticsidhe]

Ohhh, I misread your comment. I thought you were asking if people were working on a vaccine FOR DR-TB which is why I said that I assume they were just working with regular TB. My bad.

[benndragon]

Oh! No, I meant "one that's more effective" rather than "one for new problems". We're good :).

[ohloverx]

There was an experimental TB booster that started going out in 2010. I'm not sure of the updates on it, but I know that there is at least something being done. Hopefully they will be able to make it strong enough to cover these new strains.