We need a global strategy for the development of better tuberculosis vaccines.
More than 130 years after identification of its infectious etiology, 120 years after the first vaccine trial, and 94 years after the Bacille Calmette-Guérin (BCG) vaccine was introduced into clinical use, tuberculosis (TB) remains a global health threat according to the World Health Organization. Although TB incidence is on a slow decline, multidrug-resistant strains of the bacterium Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb) continue to emerge. Furthermore, BCG does not reliably protect against pulmonary TB, the disease manifestation that leads to transmission. As we commemorate World TB Day on 24 March 2015, we can celebrate having accomplished the modest Millennium Development Goal 6: halting and reversing TB incidence by 2015. However, we have not met the more ambitious 2015 Stop TB Partnership target of a 50% global decline in mortality and prevalence, especially in Africa and Europe. The post-2015 strategy of the Stop TB Partnership, which was approved by the World Health Assembly in 2014, aims for a 95% reduction in TB mortality and a 90% reduction in TB incidence by 2035. But the only realistic chance of meeting this goal requires the introduction of new and more efficacious interventions, such as vaccines. At this time, we have to acknowledge that current efforts at turning the TB tide remain insufficient.
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Source: Science