Log out
My profile and settings
My bookmarks
Comment history
Please complete your account verification. Resend verification email.
today
This verification token has expired.
today
Your email address has been verified. Update my profile.
today
Your account has been deactivated. Sign in to re-activate your account.
today
View all newsletters in the newsletter archive
today
You are now unsubscribed from receiving emails.
today
Sorry, we were unable to unsubscribe you at this time.
today
0
0
Back to profile
Comment Items
You have not left any comments yet.
title
you replied to a comment:
name
description
Saved Posts
You haven’t bookmarked any posts yet.

I recently met with 33 scientists who you may be reading about in future books about how COVID became the last pandemic.

Read more
Become a Gates Notes Insider
Sign up
Log out
Personal Information
Title
Mr
Mrs
Ms
Miss
Mx
Dr
Cancel
Save
This email is already registered
Cancel
Save
Please verify email address. Click verification link sent to this email address or resend verification email.
Cancel
Save
Email and Notification Settings
Send me updates from Bill Gates
You must provide an email
On
Off
Send me Gates Notes survey emails
On
Off
Send me the weekly Top of Mind newsletter
On
Off
Email me comment notifications
On
Off
On-screen comment notifications
On
Off
Interests
Select interests to personalize your profile and experience on Gates Notes.
Saving Lives
Energy Innovation
Improving Education
Alzheimer's
Philanthropy
Book Reviews
About Bill Gates
Account Deactivation
Click the link below to begin the account deactivation process.
If you would like to permanently delete your Gates Notes account and remove it’s content, please send us a request here.

TB Determined

Good news in the fight to stop one of the world’s oldest diseases

We’ve finally moved into the next phase of the fight against tuberculosis.

|
0

When you work in global health, you see a lot of sickness and tragedy. You never get used to it, but after years of visiting hospitals and clinics, I thought I knew generally what to expect.

Nothing could prepare me, though, for the drug resistant tuberculosis ward I visited in Durban, South Africa in 2009. Every bed was filled, and the waiting list for admission was more than 80 names long. The worst part was the floor that was just for children, including several infants. One baby had XDR-TB, the deadliest and most difficult to treat form of drug-resistant TB. It was truly awful to see.

Soon, however, TB hospitals in South Africa may look very different. Recent scientific breakthroughs mean that many of the wards that used to be full of patients may one day be filled with empty beds instead. That’s a testament to the incredible efforts of TB researchers around the world. One of those amazing scientists is Dr. Andreas Diacon, who founded an organization called TASK.

Dr. Diacon started his career as a TB specialist in Switzerland, where he rarely treated more than five patients at once. TB kills more people than any other infectious disease, but few of them are in level 4 countries like Switzerland. Because he was able to spend so much time with each patient, he got to know the ins and outs of the disease better than most. He eventually ended up in Cape Town, overseeing a clinical trial for the first new TB drug in decades.

TB research stalled in the late 20th century, because existing drugs were seen as sufficient, and there was little financial incentive to create new ones. In 2005, Dr. Diacon created TASK to help accelerate the development pipeline for novel TB treatments. The organization started with a staff of five and has grown to 180 employees. They’ve overseen trials of multiple drugs that are now being used to cure patients, including some with drug-resistant TB.

Drug resistance develops when a TB patient takes an insufficient amount of drugs to cure the disease. If a patient doesn’t finish a full course of medication, the bacteria that causes TB can mutate and become resistant to the most common forms of treatment. That mutated bacteria can then spread to other people. About one out of every 20 patients that Dr. Diacon sees has some form of drug resistance.

Even XDR-TB is curable, but not everyone responds to the treatment, and it is pretty brutal. The most common method requires daily injections for up to two years. Because those injections can only be done by a professional, patients who don’t live near a clinic often have to remain hospitalized even after they’re no longer contagious. The drugs can cause a whole range of terrible side effects, including nausea, fatigue, and even hearing loss.

Luckily, there appears to be a better way to treat XDR-TB. Researchers have identified a new three-drug cocktail that requires only six months of treatment. Instead of painful injections, patients take a fixed number of pills (the exact number depends on your weight and age) once a day.

The new course has fewer negative side effects than the injectable one, and there’s no risk of causing deafness. It’s also outpatient based, so people don’t have to stay in the hospital while receiving treatment. Plus, it’s cheaper than other treatments.

Some of these new drugs are already saving lives in South Africa. The country has the highest rate of drug-resistant TB infections per capita in the world, in large part because of the ongoing HIV epidemic (three out of every five TB patients in South Africa are also HIV-positive). With the old, injectable treatment, only 60 percent of those patients were still alive after 50 weeks of treatment. Today, with the new three-drug cocktail, 87 percent survive. That’s a remarkable increase.

Tuberculosis has haunted humanity for millennia—it’s even been found in Egyptian mummies. For most of that time, we had no clue how to stop it. Scientists finally found a cure in the mid-1900s, but it was imperfect, and innovation stalled for decades. Thanks to brilliant scientists in South Africa and around the world—including the team at TASK—we’ve finally moved into the next phase of the fight against tuberculosis.

Meet more of my heroes in the field

Discussion
Thank you for being part of the Gates Notes Insider community.
Not seeing your comment? You can read our policy on moderating comments here and learn about our Gates Notes badges here.
Badge
📌
Pinned by
Gates Notes
Badge
ʼʼ
0 responses
Sort by
all
all
most
top
old
Comments loading...
CTW
Thanks for visiting the Gates Notes. We'd like your feedback.
Become a Gates Notes Insider
Join the Gates Notes community to access exclusive content, comment on stories, participate in giveaways, and more.
SIGN UP
Already have an account?
Log in here
Logout:


Become a Gates Notes Insider
Become a Gates Notes Insider
Join the Gates Notes community to get regular updates from Bill on key topics like global health and climate change, to access exclusive content, comment on stories, participate in giveaways, and more.
Already joined? Log in
Please send me updates from Breakthrough Energy on efforts to combat climate change.
On
Off
LOG IN
SIGN UP
Title
Mr
Mrs
Ms
Miss
Mx
Dr
This email is already registered. Enter a new email, try signing in or retrieve your password
Why are we collecting this information? Gates Notes may send a welcome note or other exclusive Insider mail from time to time. Additionally, some campaigns and content may only be available to users in certain areas. Gates Notes will never share and distribute your information with external parties.
Bill may send you a welcome note or other exclusive Insider mail from time to time. We will never share your information.
Sign up
We will never share or spam your email address. For more information see our Sign Up FAQ. By clicking "Sign Up" you agree to the Gates Notes Terms of Use / Privacy Policy.
Street address
City
postal_town
State Zip code
administrative_area_level_2
Country
Data
Gates Notes Insider Sign Up FAQ

Q. How do I create a Gates Notes account?

A. There are three ways you can create a Gates Notes account:

  • Sign up with Facebook. We’ll never post to your Facebook account without your permission.
  • Sign up with Twitter. We’ll never post to your Twitter account without your permission.
  • Sign up with your email. Enter your email address during sign up. We’ll email you a link for verification.

Q. Will you ever post to my Facebook or Twitter accounts without my permission?

A. No, never.

Q. How do I sign up to receive email communications from my Gates Notes account?

A. In Account Settings, click the toggle switch next to “Send me updates from Bill Gates.”

Q. How will you use the Interests I select in Account Settings?

A. We will use them to choose the Suggested Reads that appear on your profile page.

BACK
Forgot your password?
Enter the email you used to sign up and a reset password link will be sent to you.
This email is already registered. Enter a new email, try signing in or retrieve your password
Reset Password
Reset your password.
Set New Password
Your password has been reset. Please continue to the log in page.
Log in
Get emails from Bill Gates
Send me updates from Bill Gates
You must provide an email
On
Off
Email me comment notifications
On
Off
On-screen comment notifications
On
Off
This email is already registered
Finish
We will never share or spam your email address. For more information see our Sign up FAQ. By clicking "Continue" you agree to the Gates Notes Terms of Use / Privacy Policy.
You're in!
You're in!
Please check your email and click the link provided to verify your account.
Didn't get an email from us? Resend verification
Upload a profile picture
Choose image to upload
Uploading...
Uh Oh!
The image you are trying to upload is either too big or is an unacceptable format. Please upload a .jpg or .png image that is under 25MB.
Ok
Title
Mr
Mrs
Ms
Miss
Mx
Dr
Cancel
Save
This email is already registered
Cancel
Save
Please verify email address. Click verification link sent to this email address or resend verification email.
Email and notification settings
Send me updates from Bill Gates
You must provide an email
On
Off
Email me comment notifications
On
Off
On-screen comment notifications
On
Off
Select your interests
Saving Lives
Energy Innovation
Improving Education
Alzheimer's
Philanthropy
Book Reviews
About Bill Gates
Finish
Confirm Account Deactivation
Are you sure you want to deactivate your account?
Deactivating your account will unsubscribe you from Gates Notes emails, and will remove your profile and account information from public view on the Gates Notes. Please allow for 24 hours for the deactivation to fully process. You can sign back in at any time to reactivate your account and restore its content.
Deactivate My Acccount
Go Back
Your Gates Notes account has been deactivated.
Come back anytime.
Welcome back
In order to unsubscribe you will need to sign-in to your Gates Notes Insider account
Once signed in just go to your Account Settings page and set your subscription options as desired.
Sign In
Request account deletion
We’re sorry to see you go. Your request may take a few days to process; we want to double check things before hitting the big red button. Requesting an account deletion will permanently remove all of your profile content. If you’ve changed your mind about deleting your account, you can always hit cancel and deactivate instead.
Submit
Cancel
Thank You! Your request has been sent
Page https://www.gatesnotes.com:443/ secs = 0.0312425