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Updated: 35 min 57 sec ago

Emerging multi-drug resistant Mycobacterium tuberculosis strains of the Beijing genotype circulating in Russia express a pattern of biological properties associated with enhanced virulence.

35 min 57 sec ago
 Emerging multi-drug resistant Mycobacterium tuberculosis strains of the Beijing genotype circulating in Russia express a pattern of biological properties associated with enhanced virulence.Elena Lasunskaia et al.Microbes and infection / Institut Pasteur, (06 Mar 2010)info:pmid/20215000 | info:doi/10.1016/j.micinf.2010.02.008The epidemiologically important Mycobacterium tuberculosis Beijing genotype strains, highly endemic in East Asia, have become an emerging infection in certain geographic areas, including Russia, because of its increasing prevalence and association with multidrug resistance (MDR). The aim was to verify whether MDR Beijing strains circulating in the emerging regions present some biological particularities that could contribute to their success in causing disease in comparison with the sporadic strains from locations with low prevalence of the Beijing genotype. We evaluated virulence-associated characteristics of the MDR Beijing strains isolated in Russia and compared them with those of the drug-resistant and susceptible Beijing strains from Brazil and reference H37Rv strain. We found that Russian MDR strains demonstrated an increased bacterial fitness and growth in THP-1 macrophage-like cells, as well as a higher capacity to induce non-protective cytokine synthesis and necrotic macrophage death. By contrast, the biological properties of the strains isolated in Brazil largely resembled those of the H37Rv strain, with the exception of the drug-resistant isolates that presented significantly reduced fitness. The data demonstrate that the emerging MDR strains of the Beijing genotype circulating in Russia do express a pattern of properties associated with the enhanced virulence favouring its clonal dissemination in this region.Posted by NatureRevMicrobiol to tb Tuberculosis MDR on Fri Mar 12 2010 at 21:17 UTC | info | related

New Tuberculosis Lab Hailed as Breakthrough in Health Diplomacy

35 min 57 sec ago
 New Tuberculosis Lab Hailed as Breakthrough in Health DiplomacyRichard StoneScience 327 (5971), 1312-b - 1313 (12 Mar 2010)info:doi/10.1126/science.327.5971.1312-bResearchers from Stanford University and a consortium of nonprofit organizations have been working side by side with colleagues from the North Korean Ministry of Public Health—from student nurses on up to senior physicians—to help set up the isolated nation's first laboratory capable of growing the mycobacterium that causes tuberculosis (TB) and detecting drug-resistant strains. That can't happen a moment too soon. Following years of economic decline and the severe famines of the mid-1990s, TB and other infectious diseases have surged in North Korea ... Last fall, Sharon Perry pulled her first shift on a North Korean labor brigade. The Stanford University epidemiologist spent 10 days in November in Pyongyang, working side by side with Ministry of Public Health colleagues—from student nurses on up to senior physicians—to help set up the isolated nation's first laboratory capable of growing the mycobacterium that causes tuberculosis (TB) and detecting drug-resistant strains. The weather was unseasonably cold, so for 12 hours a day the unlikely comrades toiled in their parkas on tasks that included smashing old floor tiles with sledgehammers, testing microscopes, and installing ultramodern cabinets in which pathogens can be handled. "We all pitched in," says Perry, director of the Stanford-led Bay Area TB Consortium. Perry and her colleagues have defied the odds in getting the project off the ground. U.S. scientists have long had fitful relations with counterparts in North Korea: No matter how noble the intentions, science cooperation efforts have, with few exceptions, ended up stillborn or abandoned. In recent months, some U.S. nonprofits engaged with North Korea "have found their counterparts to be reeling from the effects of intensive reeducation, dispersed overseas or to the provinces, or moved behind intermediaries," says one seasoned observer. Yet the budding TB lab has proceeded at a fevered clip. "We've kept our heads down and stayed out of politics," explains Heidi Linton, executive director of Christian Friends of Korea (CFK) in Black Mountain, North Carolina, a humanitarian organization and project partner along with the Bay Area TB Consortium and the Nuclear Threat Initiative (NTI). A team plans to return to Pyongyang next month to get the lab up and running. That can't happen a moment too soon. Following years of economic decline and the severe famines of the mid-1990s, TB and other infectious diseases have surged in North Korea. Due to increased surveillance and an expanding epidemic, Perry says, between 2006 and 2008 the number of TB cases doubled to 344 per 100,000 people. "That's similar to rates seen in sub-Saharan Africa," says Gary Schoolnik, an infectious disease researcher and physician at Stanford University School of Medicine in California.Posted by NatureRevMicrobiol to Korea north korea tb policy Tuberculosis politics on Fri Mar 12 2010 at 20:53 UTC | info | related

Tuberculosis Medication

Wed, 2010-03-10 11:23
 Tuberculosis Medicationwww.bestonhealth.comBest on Health provides tuberculosis treatment related information including symptoms and risk factors.Tuberculosis is completely curable by administering anti-tuberculosis therapyPosted by shaileshsmith to Medication Tuberculosis on Wed Mar 10 2010 at 11:23 UTC | info | related

Buy Ethambutol Online - No Prescription Needed - Cheapest Prices

Wed, 2010-03-10 11:16
 Buy Ethambutol Online - No Prescription Needed - Cheapest Priceswww.olark.comMyambutol is an antibacterial drug and a bacteriostatic drug. It's generic name is Ethambutol. It is used to treat tuberculosis & used in almost all the combinations of drugs to treat TB.Posted by DeniseMeds to Myambutol bacteriostatic ethambutol Tuberculosis antibacterial on Wed Mar 10 2010 at 11:16 UTC | info | related

Timing of Initiation of Antiretroviral Drugs during Tuberculosis Therapy

Wed, 2010-03-10 08:00
 Timing of Initiation of Antiretroviral Drugs during Tuberculosis TherapyTiming of initiation of antiretroviral drugs during tuberculosis therapySalim S. Abdool Karim et al.The New England Journal of Medicine 362 (8), 697-706 (25 Feb 2010)info:pmid/20181971 | info:doi/10.1056/NEJMoa0905848Posted by mattprice and 2 others to Tuberculosis HIV on Thu Feb 25 2010 at 07:26 UTC | info | related

Cell - Genome-wide Analysis of the Host Intracellular Network that Regulates Survival of Mycobacterium tuberculosis

Mon, 2010-03-08 04:17
 Cell - Genome-wide Analysis of the Host Intracellular Network that Regulates Survival of Mycobacterium tuberculosiswww.cell.comWe performed a genome-wide siRNA screen to identify host factors that regulated pathogen load in human macrophages infected with a virulent strain of Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Iterative rounds of confirmation, followed by validation, identified 275 such molecules that were all found to functionally associate with each other through a dense network of interactions. This network then yielded to a molecular description of the host cell functional modules that were both engaged and perturbed by the pathogen. Importantly, a subscreen against a panel of field isolates revealed that the molecular composition of the host interface varied with both genotype and the phenotypic properties of the pathogen. An analysis of these differences, however, permitted identification of those host factors that were invariantly involved, regardless of the diversification in adaptive mechanisms employed by the pathogen. Interestingly, these factors were found to predominantly function through the regulation of autophagy.Posted by NatureRevMicrobiol to tb Tuberculosis Autophagy siRNA innate immunity cell biology on Mon Mar 08 2010 at 04:17 UTC | info | related

Cell - TB: Screening for Responses to a Vile Visitor

Mon, 2010-03-08 04:15
 Cell - TB: Screening for Responses to a Vile Visitorwww.cell.comMycobacteria, the pathogens that cause tuberculosis and leprosy, establish long-term infections in host macrophages. Recent studies, including two genetic screens reported in this issue of Cell (Kumar et al., 2010; Tobin et al., 2010,Kumar et al., 2010; Tobin et al., 2010), reveal that virulent mycobacteria evade the host immune system by stimulating production of anti-inflammatory molecules and inhibiting autophagy.Posted by NatureRevMicrobiol to mycobacteria tb Tuberculosis Autophagy inflammation innate immunity on Mon Mar 08 2010 at 04:15 UTC | info | related