New publication now out in @lancetgh.bsky.social! New #TB #vaccines are being trialled in older adolescents and adults, and we comment on the advantages and challenges of including younger adolescents who have historically been excluded. www.thelancet.com/journals/lan...

Inclusion of young adolescents in policy development for new tuberculosis vaccines

The infant tuberculosis vaccine, BCG, prevents severe tuberculosis disease, but protection is rarely durable beyond childhood. New tuberculosis vaccines are being developed for the prevention of infec...

thelancet.com

www.medrxiv.org/content/10.6... New work led by Ori Solomon on resistant Mycobacterium tuberculosis isolate from the VQUIN study. Lots of drug resistance across classes and across regions.

Molecular epidemiology of rifampicin resistant Mycobacterium tuberculosis in Vietnam

Background: Vietnam is a top 20 burden country for multi-drug resistant/rifampicin-resistant tuberculosis (MDR/RR-TB), with nearly 10,000 cases a year. With the emergence of new diagnostic assays for ...

medrxiv.org

We've been we've been working on this for quite a while now (hopefully published soon). Grateful to @proftracypalmer.bsky.social for concinving me & @lislowe.bsky.social that mycobacteria produce inter-bacterial toxins. Team science, led by @sambenedict5.bsky.social www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

Passed by the Saranac laboratory on world TB day. Looking forward to TB science at the Trudeau institute.

Some global estimates regarding clinical versus microbiologically confirmed TB in this article: PMID: 41501491 DOI: 10.1038/s41591-025-04097-5

Zamin Iqbal@zaminiqbal.bsky.social · 8mo ago

Looking for recent stats on what % of diagnosed TB cases have gene Xpert run (and what % are sequenced, but that must be tiny). I thought I'd find the former in the annual WHO report but I can't seem to find it. Does anyone happen to know?

1/📢 In our new publication, we estimate that in 2022, 134 million people worldwide had a recent Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb) infection and were at high risk of progressing to TB disease. Read the full paper in PLOS Medicine (tinyurl.com/mtbinfection). #TBSky

Estimating the global burden of viable Mycobacterium tuberculosis infection: A mathematical modelling study

Alvaro Schwalb and colleagues conducted a mathematical modelling study to estimate the global burden of viable Mycobacterium tuberculosis--that which can cause disease and be transmitted--to help guid...

tinyurl.com

Congrats to @aschwalbc.bsky.social for bringing this work to the finish line!

PLOS Medicine@plosmedicine.org · 9mo ago

In this mathematical modeling study, Alvaro Schwalb and colleagues estimate the global burden of viable Mycobacterium tuberculosis—that which can cause disease and be transmitted—to help guide disease prevention efforts 🧪 #tuberculosis #MedSky plos.io/4aqzIQV

In this mathematical modeling study, Alvaro Schwalb and colleagues estimate the global burden of viable Mycobacterium tuberculosis—that which can cause disease and be transmitted—to help guide disease prevention efforts 🧪 #tuberculosis #MedSky plos.io/4aqzIQV

Estimating the global burden of viable Mycobacterium tuberculosis infection: A mathematical modelling study

Alvaro Schwalb and colleagues conducted a mathematical modelling study to estimate the global burden of viable Mycobacterium tuberculosis--that which can cause disease and be transmitted--to help guid...

plos.io

Always a treat to see the owl while cross country skiing on Mount Royal. Doesn't seem bothered by -12C

Ha! And yes. But are sponges the host, or are they just sponges, doing what sponges do?

Louis Ates@mycolates.bsky.social · 10mo ago

It might be the sponges! Or might not be. Plenty to search for still regarding ancestors. @tstinear.bsky.social journals.plos.org/plospathogen...

I agree with everything said by @mycolates.bsky.social in this thread, except the penultimate sentence. To my eyes, figure shows that Mtb diverged from animal lineages after the blue box (loss of spacers). Whether their common ancestor was Mtb is uncertain. Prefer to call this 'MTBCo '.

Louis Ates@mycolates.bsky.social · 10mo ago

BTW Roland was my PostDoc supervisor so I'm certainly biased. But this paper is incredible. It showed beyond doubt that M. bovis and "africanum" (L5/L6) descent from Mtb and that in turn from M. canettii. So much history in one figure!

How likely is ‘likely’? Does ‘likely’ have a higher probability than ‘probable’? I put together a quick quiz so you can see how you interpret probability phrases, then see how you compare with others: probability.kucharski.io

Thanks Gabriele!

Gabriele Pollara@gpollara.bsky.social · 10mo ago

It's here. I found the link in the Crick press release! @maxgg.bsky.social @jaksonluk.bsky.social www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

Cool! In case I missed it ....can you post the link to article?

Max Gutierrez@maxgg.bsky.social · 10mo ago

Very happy to see this out! Work led by @jaksonluk.bsky.social together with an amazing team @crick.ac.uk Jakson et al established a scalable and reproducible multicellular system based on human stem cells to mimic the human alveolar space in a micro-physiological system. Congratulations everyone!👏

👇Great thread on TB strain concordance/strain discordance among household contacts. If I read correctly, findings from a 1998 small series from San Francisco consistent with the much greater analysis. ++ Implications for transmission and management of contacts.

Tom Yates@tomayates.bsky.social · 10mo ago

NEW PREPRINT! We systematically reviewed molecular epidemiology studies looking at strain discordance in pairs of people with TB disease and history of household contact We found 30 studies from 18 countries. Excluding 4 studies at high risk of bias, we had data on 1544 household case pairs [1/n]

Not as cold as much of Canada. And yes to the postdoc opportunity!

Louis Ates@mycolates.bsky.social · 11mo ago

If you can handle the cold, this looks like a great PostDoc opportunity!

Are there positive and negative control tissues, eg from mouse or guinea pig infections, that can be used to pre-validate FISH before studying human samples? Without this, how does one know whether an assay is fit for purpose?

Willem van Schaik@wvschaik.bsky.social · 11mo ago

My interpretation of the FISH data is that it is likely some type of contamination, cross-reactivity to tumour DNA, or dead cells. Not evidence for a microbiota.

To see bacteria by FISH, does this imply at least 10(4) per g, akin to the threshold to detect Mycobacterium tuberculosis by Auramine staining (5000-10,000 per mL)?

Willem van Schaik@wvschaik.bsky.social · 11mo ago

IMHO it is most likely contamination during sample prep or 'free' DNA fragments that results from immune system-mediated killing of cells that have translocated into the bloodstream. Also note '46.6% tumor samples and 76.9% of non-cancerous brain samples no detectable bacterial signals'

Excited to see the PhD work led by Sarah Danchuk published today. Virulence hierarchies within the Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex. Thanks to all the authors and collaborators, and especially kudos to Sarah: www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...

It has been often observed that TB rates go up from childhood to adolescence, suggesting that children under 14 are relatively resistant and/or adolescents are more susceptible. Could the rise in incidence be explained instead by transmission effects you report?

Katherine Horton@kchorton.bsky.social · last yr.

Across age groups, TB exposure typically peaked in adolescence. However, transmission contributions by age varied across regions with the highest proportion from adolescents aged 15-24 in AMR and SEAR, adults aged 35-44 in AFR and EUR, and older adults 65+ in EMR and WPR. [NOT YET PEER REVIEWED]

Starting conversation for mycobacteria researchers. 1) mycobacteria have strange cell wall, 2) mycobacterial infections are hard to treat. Is 1) the CAUSE of 2)? For broad spectrum antibiotics that work (rifampin, levofloxacin, linezolid), do they get into mycobacteria at lower concentrations?

Ed@edballister.bsky.social · last yr.

Marcel Behr @mbehr-mcgill.bsky.social is on here. Not sure about Lali Ramakrishnan. I’m a nobody, but in my brief time working on TB, I was super impressed by their willingness to question what had become a widely cited dogma.

I thought it was going outside in winter without a hat....

Alvaro Schwalb@aschwalbc.bsky.social · last yr.

Kicking off the #CausalIntroCourse in Leeds. Hoping this will finally give me the tools to convince my mum that walking around the house barefoot ^^doesn’t^^ cause a cold.

Sihem Belhocine put this quote at the start of her thesis: "If many remedies are prescribed for an illness, you may be certain that the illness has no cure." Anton Chekhov, The Cherry Orchard, 1904 (the year he died of tuberculosis). Does this adage hold true in 2025?

Amazing thesis work led by Sarah Danchuk now submitted for review and posted as preprint: ssrn.com/abstract=51598…. Short summary: M. bovis & M. orygis manifest enhanced virulence compared to M. tuberculosis in natural host model (calves) and small animal model (mice).

Question to academics: I've been on several editorial boards before, but until now, never been asked by to sign a 16-page legal contract, including a section on my obligations. Unpaid role. Is this the new norm?

Hi Peter, A further point. It's brilliant that UK publishes its M. Bovis data. Now that WHO and WOAH recognize that definition of zoonotic TB extends to M. Orygis as well, I would be curious to see the same type of data for M. Orygis cases. So far, just scattered case series, nothing systematic.

Peter MacPherson@petermacp.bsky.social · 2y ago

Just checked, and notification data for UK here, nicely disaggregated by age, sex, and immigration status. See also link to .csv files. In UK consistently more men than women notified with M. Bovis

Thanks!

Peter MacPherson@petermacp.bsky.social · 2y ago

Just checked, and notification data for UK here, nicely disaggregated by age, sex, and immigration status. See also link to .csv files. In UK consistently more men than women notified with M. Bovis

Hi Peter. I don't know about exposure. Harder to do in immigrants to e.g., Canada, Australia asking about exposure in country of birth. Maybe can be done in places where local exposure? Are there good data in the UK?

Peter MacPherson@petermacp.bsky.social · 2y ago

Marcel - apologies I completely missed this post! Interesting, and would be good to systematically collate data. Would there be sex differences in exposure to infected animals, ie women more likely to care for/milk cattle?

Compelling analysis suggesting that M:F difference in TB rates driven by differences in rates of Mtb infection. Consistent with old (2000) analysis of genotypic clustering (PMID: 10654640). But why do zoonotic TB series often have flipped ratios? doi: 10.1093/infdis/jiae124

Hannah Rickman@hannahrickman.bsky.social · 2y ago

New preprint (with all pre-print caveats!) tinyurl.com/589ffhu4 on Mtb infection risk by sex & age. Men are at higher risk of #tuberculosis v women- but unclear how much driven by higher infection vs progression to disease. We meta-analysed Mtb immunoreactivity surveys to find out more🧵 #tbsky

I believe most isolates from pre-2020. Resistance developing or already established?

Gabriele Pollara@gpollara.bsky.social · 2y ago

⚠️ Bit of an alarm bell to MDR-TB regimen BPaL/M - resistance to constituent antibiotics developing and transmission of such strains already occurring #TBSky #IDSky @nejm.org www.nejm.org/doi/10.1056/...