Research centre to tackle TB and HIV

A new international TB centre is being set up to fight the co-epidemic of tuberculosis (TB) and HIV.

In a groundbreaking move, the Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) and the University of KwaZulu-Natal in South Africa will work together to train new scientists in Africa.

Dr William R Jacobs Jr, a HHMI investigator who will play a leading role in the initiative, said that it is "an extraordinary opportunity to work closely with clinicians, students and other researchers".

"Joining forces with those at the heart of these expanding epidemics will help us to address them more efficiently and effectively by bridging the gap between the bench and the bedside," he added.

He went on to say that the goal is "developing faster diagnostic tools and better chemotherapies and vaccines for TB, MDR-TB, XDR-TB and HIV".

In 2007, South Africa accounted for 17 per cent of HIV cases around the world, while it also has one of the highest TB rates.

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