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• Tuberculosis (TB) Vaccine May Soon be a Reality

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Tuberculosis (TB) has gained notoriety as a killer disease with statistics showing that it claims almost 1.4 million lives every year. Although many new medicines have been launched against it, the disease has outsmarted all of them. The scientific community believes that a vaccine against mycobacterium tuberculosis would be the most effective way for checking the spread of the disease. And that is why they are waiting with baited breaths, the results of a clinical trial involving a new vaccine against TB.

The vaccine, which is known as MVA85A, is the first one among a dozen new vaccines to be tried against TB. Even if the results show that the vaccine is not very effective against the disease, the scientists are hopeful that the day is not very far when an effective vaccine against TB would be discovered.

Drug Resistant Tuberculosis is Rampant

 New drugs launched against TB have not been able to catch up with the speed with which drug resistance is emerging. More than 9 million people around the world are afflicted by TB and many of these cases are resistant to the commonly used TB drugs. Even in cases where the drugs are effective, the patient has already spread the infection to 10 to 15 new people by the time he is diagnosed and treated. A vaccine against TB is essential as it can stop the transmission.

Treating TB is a long process in which the patient has to take a cocktail of around six medicines for almost nine months. As the time for treatment is long, patient compliance is often low. Moreover, in countries like India, there have been cases that are totally resistant to the drugs available at present. An effective vaccine is the only answer in such cases.

MVA85A is one amongst 16 new anti-tuberculosis vaccines that are undergoing human clinical trials at present. Almost 50 other new vaccines are undergoing the preclinical trials in animals. Therefore, scientists believe that an effective TB vaccine may be a reality sooner than later.

The post • Tuberculosis (TB) Vaccine May Soon be a Reality appeared first on TheMedCircle- Dr.Daneschvar.


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