Vaccines and AMR Case Study: Multi-Drug Resistant Tuberculosis

The interview above, with Professor Helen McShane from the Jenner Institute at the University of Oxford, discusses the need for a new TB vaccine, its importance in preventing the spread of MDR TB and the difficulties of developing a new vaccine against TB.

Tuberculosis (TB), a disease caused by the bacteria Mycobacterium tuberculosis, is one of the top 10 causes of death worldwide and a leading killer for HIV positive patients.

Anti-TB medicines have been used for decades and strains that are resistant to one or more of the medicines have been documented in every country surveyed. Drug resistance emerges when anti-TB medicines are used inappropriately, through incorrect prescription by health care providers, poor quality drugs, and patients stopping treatment prematurely.

Increasing numbers of infections due to multi-drug resistant (MDR) and extensively drug resistant (XDR) TB is a current international public health crisis and poses a health security risk.

Watch this video made by Aeras to understand the problem of antimicrobial resistance in TB and the potential impact of a vaccine.

In the resources section below you will find a publication detailing the effects of drug resistant TB and what is currently being done to develop new vaccines to fight the disease.