Published online: 3 February 2005; | doi:10.1038/news050131-12
Vaccine helps to banish tuberculosis
Jessica Ebert
Mouse results raise hope in fight against drug-resistant bacteria.
Lingering death: it takes strong drugs and a long time to rid the lungs of tuberculosis.
� SPL
A tuberculosis vaccine containing DNA from the bacterium that causes the disease can cure mice when it is combined with drugs, says a team of researchers from Korea.
The therapy offers the hope of a tuberculosis treatment that works more quickly and effectively than current, drug-only methods.
Tuberculosis, which is caused by the bacterium Mycobacterium tuberculosis, kills about 2 million people worldwide each year: more than any other single infectious disease. Cases began rising in 1985, owing to the emergence of drug-resistant bacteria and HIV infections; 13% of AIDS deaths are attributed to the disease.
Drug-resistant strains have emerged partly because patients often fail to complete their therapy. Tuberculosis can be tackled with a cocktail of antibiotics, but up to 12 months of treatment are needed. If patients stop taking their drugs too soon, the disease can come back.
'Chemotherapy in its present form is falling short of what is needed,' says Douglas Lowrie, an immunologist with the National Institute for Medical Research, London.
A treatment is needed that clears the body of M. tuberculosis in a relatively short time and prevents re-infection from any new source of bacteria.
Researchers led by Youngchul Sung of Pohang University of Science and Technology, Republic of Korea, now repo"
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