Efficacy of Artemisia afra phytotherapy in experimental tuberculosis.

Artemisia afra [Jacq] (Asteraceae) phytotherapy is widely used for its medicinal properties in traditional practices. In this study we investigated whether extracts of A. afra are capable of controlling mycobacterial replication.

Quantitative and functional differences between peripheral blood myeloid dendritic cells from patients with pleural and parenchymal lung tuberculosis.

Dendritic cells (DCs) play a pivotal role in generating protective host immunity to Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Few studies have addressed DC function in the context of active tuberculosis (TB), largely due to technical constraints in obtaining adequate numbers of DC from sick patients. We quantitated peripheral blood myeloid DCs (mDCs) and plasmacytoid DCs (pDCs) in the whole blood of patients with active TB and show that blood from patients with pleural TB was characterized by high circulating levels of mDCs.