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S. Africa Will Test New TB Vaccine

Current shot in use since 1921

By Sarah Quinn,  Newser Staff

Posted Mar 23, 2009 12:21 PM CDT
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(Newser) – A study starting next month will test a new vaccine's ability to prevent tuberculosis, Bloomberg reports. Researchers will give 2800 South African babies the new shot. The current vaccine has been around since 1921 and doesn’t keep infants from getting TB of the lungs, where the bacteria first sets in. Each year, TB infects about 8.8 million people worldwide and kills 1.7 million.

“This is the first of the new-generation TB vaccines to go into this kind of study looking at efficacy in infants,” said the researcher who developed the new vaccine. “It’s enormously exciting, and I sincerely hope we will see some efficacy.”

A TB patient after being administered medication at a clinic in Durban, South Africa.
A TB patient after being administered medication at a clinic in Durban, South Africa.   (AP Photo)
An unidentified woman is weighed as part of the test procedure for tuberculosis at a clinic in Langa, South Africa, March 17, 2008.
An unidentified woman is weighed as part of the test procedure for tuberculosis at a clinic in Langa, South Africa, March 17, 2008.   (AP Photo)
A doctor examines chest X-rays at a tuberculosis clinic in Cape Town, South Africa, Nov. 9, 2007. South Africa reported 343,000 TB cases in 2006.
A doctor examines chest X-rays at a tuberculosis clinic in Cape Town, South Africa, Nov. 9, 2007. South Africa reported 343,000 TB cases in 2006.   (AP Photo)
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