Tuberculosis in Irish prisons: New study recommends increased testing
Investigators from Trinity College Dublin, the Irish Mycobacteria Reference Laboratory, St James's Hospital, and the Department of Public Health HSE East believe tuberculosis (TB) care in Irish Prisons should be enhanced, considering the findings of their recent study published in the International Journal of Tuberculosis and Lung Disease.
The study describes an investigation into a large outbreak of tuberculosis which occurred in an Irish prison in 2011. This resulted in 34 people contracting active TB from a single infectious case. The use of Whole Genome Sequencing enabled the investigators to track the course of onward transmission, and to link TB cases identified as recently as 2019 to the 2011 outbreak.
Researchers write that "this report demonstrates the power of whole genome sequencing to enhance epidemiological investigations of TB outbreaks over prolonged periods of time,” with implications for the value of increased test and education campaigns to mitigate risk in congregate settings.
Georgia prison testing inmates after TB found
One inmate at a southeast Georgia state prison has been found to have tuberculosis, and three others are suspected of having the disease, public health officials said Tuesday.
All four have been transferred to Augusta State Medical Prison for evaluation and treatment. Contact tracing is being performed with more than 600 inmates and staff at Wheeler Correctional Facility in Alamo.
Who Gets Sick with TB: Deficient immune cells implicated in TB disease progression
A study published May 24 in Nature Immunology by investigators from Harvard Medical School, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, and the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard offers insights into the immune system that may help explain why some people have latent infections and others get sick.
By integrating single-cell RNA and surface protein data from more than 500,000 memory T cells, researchers defined 31 cell states and identified a key T cell type, Th17, that may be deficient in many individuals who progress to active TB. This study implicated Th17 function as a potential component of preventing TB progression.