HIV/Aids patients could benefit from new TB drug

Tuberculosis (TB) kills more people with HIV/Aids than any other infection, it is one of the first diseases to infect people with this virus and is easily spread, through coughing or sneezing.

Current TB drug BCG can also prove too much for the lowered immune systems of people with HIV/Aids, scientists from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) reported in journal Infection and Immunity.

Animal trials with a new TB drug have proved successful, researchers from UCLA's Department of Medicine said.

They have eliminated a vaccine's ability to latch onto iron therefore reducing the amount of times it replicates in the body.

Principal investigator Dr Marcus Horwitz explained: "Preloading the vaccine with a specific amount of iron allows us control over the vaccine's safety and effectiveness in the host."

After further trials over the next few years, the scientists hope to be able to offer the drug to humans, especially people with HIV.

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