TB Notes 3, 2000

Update from the Research and Evaluation Branch

Upcoming International Meeting on Diagnostic Tests

The CDC is organizing a meeting of industry representatives, academic researchers, TB control staff, and representatives from NIH, WHO, and CDC, to 1) determine the state of the art in the area of diagnostics for active TB and latent TB infection, 2) outline remaining questions pertinent to TB diagnostics, 3) identify novel and potentially useful approaches to TB diagnosis, 4) develop a research agenda to address development of new diagnostics and promote effective strategies for existing diagnostics, and 5) examine potential mechanisms for funding the proposed research. The meeting will be held in Atlanta, Georgia, this spring.

The importance of this meeting is reflected in a recent report on TB by the Institute of Medicine (IOM), entitled Ending Neglect: The Elimination of Tuberculosis in the United States. In the report, the IOM gave a high priority to the development of improved diagnostic tests, not only for the United States, but for global TB control as well. The report’s authors recognized limitations in current methods of identifying active TB and stated that "a highly specific test that detects individuals at the highest risk of developing disease in the future would have a greater impact on the elimination of TB in the United States than a vaccine that prevents infection." For further information on the meeting, please contact Dr. Jerry Mazurek in the Research and Evaluation Branch, (404) 639-8123.

—Reported by Jerry Mazurek, MD
Division of TB Elimination

Released October 2008
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
National Center for HIV/AIDS, Viral Hepatitis, STD, and TB Prevention
Division of Tuberculosis Elimination - http://www.cdc.gov/tb

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CDC/Division of Tuberculosis Elimination
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