Global TB community reaction to exclusion of TB from WHO list of bacteria in need of new antibiotics

Mycobacterium tuberculosis was not included in the list: "Tuberculosis – whose resistance to traditional treatment has been growing in recent years – was not included in the list because it is targeted by other, dedicated programmes." This provoked a strong reaction from the global TB community. Here are the statements of the Stop TB Partnership, The Union, TB Alliance, EATG and other organizations calling on WHO to add TB to the list:

• Stop TB Partnership:

-- TB community dismayed as the World Health Organization (WHO) omits Mycobacterium tuberculosis from "list of bacteria for which new antibiotics are urgently needed"

• International Union Against Tuberculosis and Lung Disease (The Union):

-- The Union demands that TB be included in the WHO list of bacteria for which new antibiotics urgently needed
-- Union letter to WHO protests unjustified exclusion of TB from antibiotics global priority list
-- Union President encourages sustained efforts to rectify WHO's pathogen list TB omission

• TB Alliance:

-- TB Alliance calls on WHO to add tuberculosis to list of critical group of bacteria for which new antibiotics are urgently needed
-- TB Alliance calls on WHO to add TB to list of bacteria in critical need of antibiotics

• European AIDS Treatment Group (EATG)

-- EATG demands inclusion of TB in WHO global priority list

• Damien Foundation

-- Damien Foundation Letter to request World Health Organization (WHO) to put Mycobacterium tuberculosis on list of priority resistant bacteria