‘Game-changing’ TB vaccine shows promise in trials

An experimental tuberculosis (TB) vaccine could prevent people who have TB with no sign of illness from progressing to TB of the lungs for up to three years, potentially saving millions of lives, a study shows. The WHO reports that a quarter of the world’s population are infected with the TB germ Mycobacterium tuberculosis but do not have signs of active TB disease and do not feel ill — a phenomenon called latent TB. About five to ten per cent of those with latent TB develop active tuberculosis disease in their lifetime. Tuberculosis that usually affects the lungs is a top ten killer globally, according to the WHO. In 2018, about 10 million people fell ill with TB, with 1.5 million people dying as a result. The vaccine called M72/AS01E and developed by pharmaceutical firms GlaxoSmithKline Biologicals and Aeras, was trialled in 3,575 adults with latent TB in Kenya, South Africa and Zambia...