Colorado State University Develops Tuberculosis Vaccine

A Colorado State University (Fort Collins, CO, www.colostate.edu) research team has developed a novel vaccine to prevent tuberculosis (TB). The vaccine triggers the body’s immunity in a novel way by activating specific immune system functions that enhance the response to the bacterium that causes tuberculosis. Although in preliminary stages of testing, the vaccine would likely be effective against all strains of TB, including multidrug and extensively drug-resistant tuberculosis. Preliminary evidence shows that the vaccine has promise of working after exposure to TB, which no other vaccine in current development has achieved. The vaccine is designed to be relatively easy to produce. Human trials for the vaccine could occur in two to three years.