Two out of three adolescents diagnosed with pulmonary tuberculosis (TB) experience lung abnormalities even after successfully completing treatment for this disease.

Drug-resistant tuberculosis (DR-TB) is a global health threat due to high mortality, cost of treatment and risk of transmission. In 2021, there were an estimated 450 000 cases of DR-TB worldwide and 191 000 deaths. South Africa has one of the highest numbers of drug-resistant patients globally, but shockingly only 50% of these patients are started on treatment.

Scientists from Stellenbosch University are trying to conserve the life-saving treatment bedaquiline, by studying how the bacterium that causes TB can develop resistance to this drug.

The results of a large, international systematic review published in the journal PLOS Medicine show that tuberculosis treatment is successful in children with multidrug-resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB). The study was used to inform the World Health Organization guidelines on treatment of MDR-TB in children.

Preventing the tuberculosis (TB) bacterium from producing its own vitamin could be key in the battle against the disease, according to a study done at the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences (FMHS) at Stellenbosch University (SU).