In this modeling study, Allison Portnoy and colleagues investigate the potential impact of reduced international donor funding on the household economic burden of tuberculosis in low- and middle-income countries 🧪 #MedSky #TB plos.io/4ryyBFX

1/📢 In our new publication, we estimate that in 2022, 134 million people worldwide had a recent Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb) infection and were at high risk of progressing to TB disease. Read the full paper in PLOS Medicine (tinyurl.com/mtbinfection). #TBSky

Very please to share the results of the SaDAPT Trial. In Malawi and Lesotho, same-day initiation for ART for #HIV in people with #TB symptoms was non-inferior to ART initiation after TB investigations, and with no safety concerns. authors.elsevier.com/c/1mb~68MsVo... @uofgshw.bsky.social

One of the pleasures of my academic job is my role as an Academic Editor for PLOS Medicine.

Next up in our 'meet the editors' is Academic Editor Peter MacPherson (@petermacp.bsky.social), Professor of Global Public Health and Head of Public Health at the University of Glasgow. Peter also specializes in infectious disease epidemiology, tuberculosis, HIV, and evidence synthesis 🧪 #MedSky

We are recruiting! We are looking for statistical methodologists at Research Fellow / Senior Research Fellow level for our new Centre of Research Excellence (CoRE) in Clinical Trial Innovation. If you know of anyone who might be interested, please share! www.ucl.ac.uk/work-at-ucl/...

Our Editor’s Choice commentary in @cidjournal.bsky.social finds that reported TB symptoms are an inadequate classifier of disease state, as they are heavily influenced by context and substantial interviewer variability, and may have alternative causes. Read more here👇🏻 doi.org/10.1093/cid/...

🚨Fully-funded PhD opportunity!🚨 Interested in researching how to improve risk prediction for people with #tuberculosis #TB and #multimorbidity? Joint project between @uofgshw.bsky.social 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 and @ki.se 🇸🇪, funded by UK MRC. Details here⬇️ www.gla.ac.uk/postgraduate...

Latent #tuberculosis (TB) infection screening programmes for migrants from high to low TB incidence countries can be effective and cost-saving in a variety of settings. New study by @petermacp.bsky.social @alice-e-taylor.bsky.social @publichealthscot.bsky.social journals.plos.org/plosone/arti...

Ahead of The Union World Conference on Lung Health, Katherine Horton provides @the-independent.com with insights into the devastating impact of the funding cuts on global health, particularly tuberculosis. Be sure to read about the threat of UK aid cuts: www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/poli...

Every year, ~500,000 people develop TB in Nigeria — but 30% go undiagnosed. Dr. Chukwuebuka Ugwu’s DESTINE study shows how gender-tailored, locally co-created TB interventions can close this gap. 🎥 Watch here: youtu.be/JOFzgHOwFFk?... @zanklic.bsky.social

Was very fortunate to see Counting Crows play last night… only 27 years since I last saw them play in Scotland.

With declining donor aid, Ministries of Health in high-tuberculosis burden nations need to be more ambitious, but will have to do more with less Embedding tuberculosis within the PHC and UHC agenda is an obvious way to do it www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Understanding patterns of #TB exposure and transmission is needed for targeted prevention strategies. In our latest pre-print, @petedodd24.bsky.social and I estimated the proportion of TB exposure to and transmission from sex and age groups for 177 countries. bit.ly/4nbV492

The recognition of asymptomatic #TB is both fascinating and worrying. The recognition of symptoms is the gate-keeper to so much of our public health response. Seems like another important argument for broader community access to diagnostic services!

New preprint (NOT PEER-REVIEWED) Community screening for #TB can reduce incidence. But we don’t know how best to target. Targeting based on neighbourhood ARTI from convenience samples can substantially improve health and cost-effectiveness vs untargeted screening. www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1...

⚡️New publication⚡️ We investigated the risk and determinants of mortality in people notified with Invasive Group A Streptococcal disease in Scotland between Jan 2017 and Dec 2024. doi.org/10.1016/j.ij... @uofgshw.bsky.social

⚡️New publication⚡️ WHO clinical staging is not sufficiently accurate to identify advanced #HIV. CD4 testing remains essential to reduce morbidity and mortality. doi.org/10.1111/hiv.... @uofgshw.bsky.social @joejarvis.bsky.social

Our systematic review of rural/urban differences in #TB prevalence shows evidence of rapidly urbanising epidemics in many settings, with differences across countries and regions. Link to preprint below ⬇️

Are there more people with #TB in cities or rural areas? In a 🚨new🚨 preprint (NOT PEER REVIEWED) we modelled urban-rural TB trends from 2000-2023 in 26 countries with 4.6 billion people. www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1...

Men are more than twice as likely as women to have prevalent #TB. We did updated meta-analysis including over 4million people in 99 surveys. Despite increasing focus on gender equitable TB responses, this gap has widened since we last assessed these data over a decade ago.

6/ @petermacp.bsky.social and I seem to be the only coauthors on Bluesky, but this work comes from a great team across @hsph.harvard.edu @uofglasgow.bsky.social @tb-lshtm.bsky.social @lshtm-tbmod.bsky.social

5/ These findings show that, despite calls for gender responsive TB prevention and care, disparities have increased over the past three decades. Effective strategies to reduce men’s risk of TB and to engage men in TB prevention and care remain essential to end TB. NOT PEER REVIEWED

4/ The stability of pooled estimates doesn't mean sex ratios have remained consistent. We found evidence that male-to-female ratios likely increased 1.6% (95% CrI -1.0-6.2%) annually over the period 1994–2021, with the greatest increase in the Western Pacific region. NOT PEER REVIEWED

3/ We fitted multi-level Bayesian regression models to estimate a pooled male-to-female prevalence ratio of 2.21 (95% CrI 1.94-2.50) for bacteriologically-confirmed TB. That's the same point estimate as our previous review, but the two studies used different analytical methods. NOT PEER REVIEWED

2/ We updated our systematic review and identified 99 TB prevalence surveys reporting sex-disaggregated results (with >4 million participants) conducted between 1993 and 2024 in 33 low- or middle-income countries. NOT PEER REVIEWED

1/ It’s been 10 years (😮) since we reported that #TB prevalence was twice as high in men as in women. 📢 Our new preprint explores how sex differences have shifted with more recent national prevalence surveys and growing attention to #gender responsive TB prevention and care. bit.ly/4gqP1LH

🆕paper co-authored by @petermacp.bsky.social Key finding - Open tibia fractures result in significant costs to patients, the healthcare system and society in Malawi. Re-balancing of health budgets is needed to prioritise trauma care. doi.org/10.1371/jour...

As well as the modelling study by Molaro and colleagues that looks specifically at the effects of #health #aid reductions in #Malawi journals.plos.org/plosmedicine... @plos.org

Check out this new Perspective by #PLOSMedicine academic editor @petermacp.bsky.social and colleagues on the devastating effects on progress of health funding cuts in Africa: journals.plos.org/plosmedicine... @plos.org

Reductions in development assistance for health funding threaten decades of progress in Africa 🦠🧪🛟 journals.plos.org/plosmedicine...

About half of people with #TB are asymptomatic (aTB). Calls have been made to stratify treatment and estimate incidence based on aTB case definitions In this preprint we raise concerns that symptoms are an inadequate & inconsistent classifier of TB state, being highly influenced by context ⬇️link

⚡️New preprint (not peer-reviewed)⚡️ In the SaDAPT trial with people with #HIV and #tuberculosis symptoms in 🇲🇼🇱🇸, we investigated if antiretroviral therapy should be initiated immediately, or delayed until TB results available. ssrn.com/abstract=523... Outcomes (incl. IRIS) similar across both arms.

We are excited to share that the new @who.int Consolidated Guidelines - National TB Prevalence Surveys is out now!🎉 👏Our KNCV colleagues, Petra de Haas and Edine Tiemersma, contributed to the development of this valuable resource for #TB care and prevention. www.who.int/publications... #TBSky

Just saw the presentation at IAS. This is exactly the trial we needed. Previous attempts like SLATE missed the mark but you have done it, congratulations.

Multimorbidity PhD Programme for Health Professionals - Fellowship applications for 2026 now open! @uofgmvls.bsky.social Find out more - tinyurl.com/2r8c2van www.youtube.com/watch?v=VBmC...

Our work estimating the potential impacts of reductions in international donor funding for #TB is now out in @lancetgh.bsky.social: bit.ly/3TDl28T @raclark18.bsky.social @cfmcquaid.bsky.social @alexandra-richards.bsky.social @top-j.bsky.social @reinhouben.bsky.social @richardwhite321.bsky.social

📢in @lancetgh.bsky.social we show heavy catastrophic health expenditure burden in people with chronic respiratory disease symptoms,Meru #Kenya.🔍 Of 296 adults,26% had #CHE (health costs>10% household expenses),CHE more likely in females & if seeking care accompanied or at sub-county/county hosps.

New study published in @thelancetph.bsky.social finds that from adolescence onwards, men have higher Mycobacterium #Tuberculosis infection rates than women, resulting in higher prevalence of immunoreactivity. @petermacp.bsky.social @lshtm.bsky.social doi.org/10.1016/S246...

New study published in @thelancetph.bsky.social finds that from adolescence onwards, men have higher Mycobacterium #Tuberculosis infection rates than women, resulting in higher prevalence of immunoreactivity. @petermacp.bsky.social @lshtm.bsky.social doi.org/10.1016/S246...

Super stuff @petermacp.bsky.social @lightontb.bsky.social team!

New systematic review led by @hannahrickman.bsky.social shows annual risk of Mycobacterium #tuberculosis conversion in men and women diverges during adolescence and remains higher among men throughout adulthood. www.thelancet.com/journals/lan...

NEW STUDY! 📣 A large global study found men are more likely to be exposed to TB than women. The reason? Likely social behaviours: • More time in crowded indoor spaces • Delays in seeking care READ MORE ⤵️ 🔗 www.thelancet.com/journals/lan... @petermacp.bsky.social @hannahrickman.bsky.social

Brilliant analysis that reinforces the need for concerted efforts to address gender-related barriers to TB diagnosis and treatment for men and adolescent boys. Essentially, men are more likely to acquire TB because they are more likely to be exposed to other people (mostly men) with TB.

In meta analysis of data from nearly half a million people, we found that men have higher M. #tuberculosis immunoreactivity risk than women. Likely to be key driver of sex differences in global tuberculosis morbidity & mortality @hannahrickman.bsky.social 🛟🧪 authors.elsevier.com/sd/article/S...

In the 1980s, many thought tuberculosis was on the path to elimination. In reality, more were dying from the disease than ever. The second article in our series on Tuberculosis: ourworldindata.org/the-end-of-t...

Tuberculosis still kills around 1.3 million people every year. It was once a massive killer in Europe and the US, but not anymore. How did these countries manage to tackle it? Our first article on TB in a three-part series: ourworldindata.org/tuberculosis...

🧵1/8 The UK’s approach to international development needs a reset. In a new @bmj.com piece, @kentbuse.bsky.social & I argue for a principles-based strategy to rebuild global solidarity and credibility. Here’s a quick breakdown. 👇

TB & climate change: @who.int report out now, building on an analytical framework we developed to explore the intersections and implications for the TB epidemic. Key message? TB should be considered a climate-sensitive disease www.who.int/publications...

Amid all the bad news in Global Health, perhaps some good news? A first analysis on the risk of false positive diagnoses in community-screening for tuberculosis using Xpert shows our clinic-based data is likely (very) wrong and overestimates false positives by >80%: tinyurl.com/yfecute9.