People have inhabited the Andes mountains of South America for more than 9,000 years, adapting to the scarce oxygen available at high altitudes, along with cold temperatures and intense ultraviolet radiation. A new genomic study suggests that Indigenous populations in present-day Ecuador also adapted to the tuberculosis bacterium, thousands of years before the arrival of Europeans. 

Patients co-infected with HIV and multidrug-resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB) can achieve similar survival and tuberculosis cure rates to those infected with MDR-TB but not HIV when treated concurrently for both infections, according to a new study published in the journal Clinical Infectious Diseases. The study was led by investigators at the Emory Rollins School of Public Health, in collaboration with Albert Einstein College of Medicine, the University of KwaZulu-Natal and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases has awarded a three-year $5 million grant to an international team of investigators to test the anti-cancer drug imatinib as a repurposed treatment for tuberculosis. The study will take place at Emory University in Atlanta, and in South Africa at the Aurum Institute's Tembisa Clinical Research Center in South Africa.

Researchers have identified blood-based biomarkers in patients with active tuberculosis (ATB) that could lead to new blood-based diagnostics and tools for monitoring treatment response and cure.

Leading international experts in tuberculosis and related diseases from at least 10 countries will gather at a Human Immunity to Tuberculosis conference April 13-14 in Atlanta. The meeting will take place at the Emory Conference Center, 1615 Clifton Rd., Atlanta, GA 30329.