Publications by authors named "F Cobelens"

Background: Tuberculosis vaccine trials using disease as the primary endpoint are large, time consuming, and expensive. An earlier immunological measure of the protection against disease would accelerate tuberculosis vaccine development. We aimed to assess whether the effectiveness of the Bacillus Calmette-Guérin (BCG) vaccine for prevention of Mycobacterium tuberculosis infection was consistent with that for prevention of tuberculosis disease.

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Tuberculosis is a leading cause of death from an infectious agent globally. Infectious subclinical tuberculosis accounts for almost half of all tuberculosis cases in national tuberculosis prevalence surveys, and possibly contributes to transmission and might be associated with morbidity. Modelling studies suggest that new tuberculosis vaccines could have substantial health and economic effects, partly based on the assumptions made regarding subclinical tuberculosis.

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Introduction: Efforts to improve medication access in low-and middle-income countries, particularly in Sub-Saharan Africa, have made progress, especially in the fight against infectious diseases such as tuberculosis. However, challenges exist in establishing effective pharmacovigilance systems. The PhArmacoVIgilance Africa (PAVIA) project was committed to enhancing pharmacovigilance in Tanzania, Eswatini, Nigeria, and Ethiopia, with an emphasis on anti-tuberculosis drugs, utilizing various methods, including training.

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Article Synopsis
  • Non-sputum-based tests are crucial for diagnosing tuberculosis (TB) in people living with HIV (PWH), and the Kyn-to-Trp (K/T) plasma ratio may serve as a promising biomarker to predict TB disease in these patients on antiretroviral therapy (ART).
  • The study measured K/T ratios at three different time points (at diagnosis, 6 months before, and 6 months after) in PWH who developed TB, revealing significantly higher ratios at diagnosis compared to matched controls.
  • Following successful TB treatment, K/T ratios significantly dropped, but they increased in cases of treatment failure, suggesting the ratio could be useful for monitoring TB treatment in PWH, pending further validation studies.
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