Crypto News: Time for new tuberculosis treatment options

Hi, it's Lisa in London, where I've recently been feeling thankful for a childhood scar. But before we get to that...

Japan's birth rate declines again, plunging to a record low.
After 945 days, Hong Kong is ending one of the world's longest mask mandates. For many, the city has changed forever.
France calls for Europe to throw its weight behind nuclear power.

I have a small scar on my arm where I was given a tuberculosis vaccine as a child, shortly before my relatives migrated to Australia from Vietnam.

The world was seeing a resurgence in cases of the infectious disease that mostly affects the lungs. While efforts since then to fight the illness have advanced, it's still one of the biggest killers globally. Yet TB is both preventable and curable.

The BCG vaccine that I had works best in babies and young children, and is safe and cost-effective. But for those unlucky enough to contract tuberculosis, the treatment regimen is far less straightforward. It can also be expensive and lengthy.

Last week, scientists revealed results from a study that showed a new combination of four antibiotics used to treat drug-resistant and drug-susceptible tuberculosis can potentially cut the treatment time by as much as two months.

Most of the drug-susceptible patients who took the new treatment were no longer infectious by week eight. This was much better than the existing standard treatment.

"This has implications for public health because we want to reduce the spread of the disease as soon as possible," said Muge Cevik, a researcher at the University of St Andrews and one of the authors of the study.

Finding a combination that kills all the bacteria faster than the standard treatment is a potential game changer, particularly for patients who can't handle the side effects that can include gastrointestinal issues, rash and drug-induced hepatitis. Those conditions can get worse for drug-resistant TB, which can also cause hearing loss, depression, psychosis or kidney impairment could occur.

That's why, even after millions of deaths, the treatment of the disease is so difficult and has such a severe impact on patients and their families, who often live in developing countries.

In December, the World Health Organization recommended a slightly different combination of four antibiotics. While this was an improvement on previous regimens it still requires medication taken over six months.

"Simpler and safer TB treatments with fewer side effects are urgently needed," said Cevik.

But developing an affordable drug mix will be challenging, making the WHO's global target of a of a 90% reduction in TB deaths by 2030 a difficult goal to achieve. — Lisa Pham

If you wondered where the world's at in the hunt for the origins of Covid-19, here's an update from my colleagues.

A Chinese scientist who made gene-editing claims and spent time in prison for practicing medicine without a license is attempting a comeback, the Associated Press reports.

Rural hospitals across the US are closing their maternity units to cut costs, according to the New York Times.

Ask us anything — well, anything health-related that is! Each week we're picking a reader question and putting it to our network of experts. So get in touch via AskPrognosis@bloomberg.net.