​​EVENTS, MEETINGS, & CONFERENCES

​2023 TB Elimination Alliance Virtual Summit: Building Healthy Communities Free of TB

Registration is now open for the TB Elimination Alliance (TEA) virtual summit on November 8-9, 2023. This year's summit will focus on the theme "Building Healthy Communities Free of TB," showcasing TEA’s Mini-Grant Program. Contact tea@aapcho.org for more information.


Recording: The ABC for a TB Activist: 1/4/6×24 Campaign and Supportive Diagnostics:

APHA Annual Meeting and Expo Registration: APHA 2023 is the premier public health event of the year. Learn from leading experts, build leadership skills and knowledge and connect with peers from around the globe, all with the choice and flexibility to select the best format for you.

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TB IN THE NEWS

• Responding to the tuberculosis risk of forced mass migration from Ukraine: a complex challenge with no single solution
  
• ​Tuberculosis Could Be the Next Global Health Crisis. Is the World Ready?
  
• Researchers Find Potential Way to Tweak Immune System to Help It Fight Tuberculosis
  
• New York City struggling to contain rising tuberculosis cases
• MSF welcomes J&J's decision to not enforce unnecessary patents on key TB drug
• After Covid, some states see more TB cases
  
• Respiratory illnesses low, TB bouncing back to pre-COVID levels
  
• A new agenda to control tuberculosis
  
• How a Big Pharma Company Stalled a Potentially Lifesaving Vaccine in Pursuit of Bigger Profits
  
• Are We There Yet? TB Preventive Treatment Beyond TB/HIV Integration"
  
• J&J lifts patent on MDR-TB drug but it may be years before South Africa benefits
  
• New TB infections likely to increase, as Kenya runs out of supply of drugs
  
• 3 former York County SC jail inmates test positive for tuberculosis, sheriff says
  
• Letter: Tuberculosis is still a threat. This legislation addresses it.
  
• New Pitt Research Points Out Ways to Improve Tuberculosis Vaccines
  
• Study reveals previously unappreciated role for innate immune cells in early stages of TB infection

Read lots more TB news on our website page  ‘From TB Wire’!

TB Wire past issues: 2023, 2022 

HIGHLIGHTED TB REPORTS/UPDATES
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• ​UNGA week brought numerous announcements and commitments for TB response - here they are!
  
• World leaders commit to new targets to end TB
  
• PEPFAR Launches New Effort to Fight TB: Goal to Detect Two Million Cases and Prevent 500,000 Deaths
  
• Global Drug Facility Update on Access to Bedaquiline
  
• Call for Proposals: Accelerate and promote responsible introduction of new DR-TB drugs and regimens
  
• Presidents of Brazil and France call for increased support to Unitaid to speed up access to lifesaving health products
  
• Adaptation and implementation of the WHO Multisectoral Accountability Framework to end TB: Operational guidance​

​​Read more reports and updates on our website page ‘From TB Wire’!

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​​COURSES/WORKSHOPS

• WHO Academy e-course: Harnessing the power of routine health facility data: Tuberculosis
  
• WORLD LUNG DAY 2023: PROMOTING ACCESS TO PREVENTION AND TREATMENT FOR ALL
  
• International Course on the Clinical and Programmatic Management of Drug-Resistant Tuberculosis 2023
  
• Online Course on CXR Interpretation for Child Tuberculosis Diagnosis
  
• The Association of Public Health Laboratories (APHL) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) collaborated to develop an online course, “Understanding TB Laboratory Testing for Public Health Nurses”  to help TB nurses and clinicians learn about TB laboratory testing best practices. The course will aid in communicating effectively and timely with the patient, clinician, and laboratory. To learn more visit APHL.
  
• 4-8 December 2023: International Course on the Clinical and Programmatic Management of Drug-Resistant Tuberculosis 2023 (hybrid course)
  
• ​End TB Course Series
  
• Register for WHO’s courses on TB
  
• Prevent Tuberculosis: Management of TB Infection, Part I
  
• Prevent Tuberculosis: Management of TB Infection, Part II
  
• Union Courses Online
  

November 2023

GREETINGS!
November is a time to take stock of what we are grateful for. We are very thankful for you our members, for the new data from the WHO, for the NYTimes recent attention on TB, for our new Moosend software allowing us to send you this newsletter, for our new Stop TB USA Facebook page, and our new youth leaders who have joined our Media Work Group. All these things will help us #EndTB, and if you want to get more active (join a work group, perhaps?), drop us a note at leadership@stoptbusa.org.

DC UPDATE
​​The House has a new Speaker, so business can now proceed, but we need you to weigh in; keep asking your Members of Congress to co-sponsor the End TB Now Act, H.1776/S.288!! First the good news: the End TB Now Act has passed through both the House and the Senate Committees! Here’s a helpful fact sheet and a press release about the End TB Now Act.

Please continue to ask your Representatives and Senators to co-sponsor this important bi-partisan bill! Special thanks to Senator Todd Young (R-Ind.), Senator Bob Menendez (D-NJ), Rep. Ami Bera (D-CA), Rep. María Elvira Salazar (R-FL), Rep. Brad Sherman (D-CA), and Brian Fitzpatrick (R-PA) for being the lead sponsors. Call and write your members of Congress to ask they co-sponsor the End TB Now Act today, or thank them if they are signed on (Reps here, and Senators here).

Call the Capitol Switchboard at 1-202-224-3121 and ask for your senator/representative or give your state if you do not know their name. When you are connected to an office, ask for the Health Legislative Assistant. If you leave a voicemail message, include your name, phone number, and email so that they can respond.

Sample message: I am a constituent from [your town] and I am calling to urge Sen./Rep.____ to co-sponsor the End Tuberculosis Now Act of 2023. Additionally, the End TB Now Act has passed through the committees, and I am looking to your leadership to bring it to the floor. Would you please ask [Senator Schumer (if your Senator is Democrat)/Senator McConnell (if your Senator is Republican) or if a Representative - Representative Jeffries (if a Democrat)/McCarthy (if a Republican)] to bring this bill to the [House/Senate] floor?

The bill outlines a plan and critical actions to align tuberculosis efforts in the U.S. with international efforts. TB, an airborne infectious disease, is once again the leading global infectious disease killer. TB cases and deaths are rising across the globe. [Add a sentence about why you care about TB elimination.] The End TB Now Act will amplify our ability to end TB as a public health threat. I urge Sen./Rep. ____ to cosponsor this very important bill. Thank you for your consideration!

Stay tuned for the introduction of the domestic companion bill, The Comprehensive TB Elimination Act. We’ll need to get lots of cosponsors for that one too…

​​​​Stop TB USA: Where we unite to #EndTB!

Invite a friend to sign up to receive the TB Wire and be a part of Stop TB USA!

​Consider donating: Make a check out to NTCA (our fiscal home) with “Stop TB USA donation” in the memo line.

Send to PO Box 260288, Atlanta, GA 31126

Stop TB USA
stoptbusa.org
leadership@stoptbusa.org
PO Box 260288, Atlanta, GA 31126 USA

JOURNAL ARTICLES

• Key advances in vaccine development for tuberculosis—success and challenges
  
• Mixed infections in genotypic drug-resistant Mycobacterium tuberculosis
  
• Prioritizing persons deprived of liberty in global guidelines for tuberculosis preventive treatment
  
• Intravenous Bacille Calmette–Guérin vaccination protects simian immunodeficiency virus-infected macaques from tuberculosis
  
• Implementation of WHO guidelines on urine lateral flow LAM testing in the high TB/HIV burden African countries
  
• Burden of tuberculosis among vulnerable populations worldwide: an overview of systematic reviews
  
• Tuberculosis Variant with Rifampin Resistance Undetectable by Xpert MTB/RIF, Botswana

​Discover many more peer-reviewed articles on our website page ‘Peer-Reviewed Publications’ !

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TB RESOURCES

• ​Global Tuberculosis Report 2023
  
• Case Studies in Tuberculosis: Training in Nurse Case Management
  
• Pipeline Report » 2023 Tuberculosis Vaccines
  
• Optimizing strategies for tuberculosis screening
  

​Uniting for Ukraine: Tuberculosis Information and Resources:

CDC has released new tuberculosis (TB) resources to increase awareness about the TB screening and attestation requirements of the Uniting for Ukraine program. Resources are available in Ukrainian, Russian, and English. Learn more: www.cdc.gov/unitingforukraine.  

• A conversation guide for talking with your clients about screening for TB (Ukrainian, Russian, and English),
• A fact sheet (Ukrainian/English and Russian/English),
  
• A flyer (Ukrainian/English and Russian/English),
  
• A poster (Ukrainian/English and Russian/English),
  
• Sample newsletter content: Screening Requirement(Ukrainian, Russian, and English)
  
• Sample newsletter content: Testing Opportunity Announcement(Ukrainian, Russian, and English)
  
• Sample text message content (Ukrainian, Russian, and English)
  
• Sample social media posts (Ukrainian, Russian, and English).
  

Find and updated CDC TB Skin Test Fact Sheet Here

Find more TB resources on our website page ‘TB Resources’!​

ANNOUNCEMENTS

Four Corners TB/HIV and Southeastern TB Controllers Conferences:

CDC participated in the Four Corners TB-HIV Conference and the Southeastern TB Conference from October 23-25, 2023. The conferences covered a variety of topics relevant to the different regions. Attendees connected with colleagues to discuss ongoing TB activities. CDC distributed TB educational resources for both patient and provider  which are available for order from CDC-Info On Demand (see ordering instructions).

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Launch of a new journal – IJTLD Open

“Funding agencies (including WHO and Gates Foundation) have recently mandated that authors must publish exclusively in fully-OA journals.

Our response to this change is to maintain the IJTLD for authors in LMICs who lack OA funding, while also launching a new title, IJTLD Open. This allows us to have a fully compliant OA journal that will enhance our coverage of TB and lung disease.

We are now inviting submissions for IJTLD Open  – see here.” – The Union-CDC recently published a“Dear Colleague Letter”addressing reported drug shortage challenges for U.S. TB

programs.
-FDA updated its Drug Shortage Reportto include isoniazid (INH)on 05/23/23.View the report here.2023-2024 TEA Mini-Grant Program RFP and Information Session Open Now!Applications dueJune 16th, 2023.
-CDC recently published a“Dear Colleague Letter”addressing reported drug shortage challenges for U.S. TB
programs.
-FDA updated its Drug Shortage Reportto include isoniazid (INH)on 05/23/23.View the report here.2023-2024 TEA Mini-Grant Program RFP and Information Session Open Now!Applications dueJune 16th, 2023.
-CDC recently published a“Dear Colleague Letter”addressing reported drug shortage challenges for U.S. TB
programs.
-FDA updated its Drug Shortage Reportto include isoniazid (INH)on 05/23/23.View the report here.2023-2024 TEA Mini-Grant Program RFP and Information Session Open Now!Applications dueJune 16th, 2023.
-CDC recently published a“Dear Colleague Letter”addressing reported drug shortage challenges for U.S. TB
programs.
-FDA updated its Drug Shortage Reportto include isoniazid (INH)on 05/23/23.View the report here.