Queensland research finds inhaled vaccine effective tuberculosis protection
There is one available vaccine to protect against TB, developed in 1921, with little known about why the vaccine sometimes stops offering protection in adolescence.
World Health Organisation data revealed 10.8 million new TB infections globally in 2023 and 1.3 million deaths.
The team from James Cook University found that administering a stronger strain of the only existing Bacille Calmette-Guérin vaccine, or BCG, generated an effective immune response in the lungs.
"This link between how the body repairs the lung after minor injury and how that can lead to better protection against tuberculosis is really what this study is about," associate professor Andreas Kupz, who led the study, said.
TB is primarily spread through the air when a person with active tuberculosis disease coughs, sneezes or speaks.
Dr Kupz said high global rates of TB were in part due to the limited efficacy of the only licensed vaccine, developed to protect adults in 1921 via a shot to the arm.
"Because it is delivered as an injection after birth, it often doesn't produce long-term protection against respiratory infections," he said.
Dr Kupz said the team's research could hold several important implications for the development of a more effective TB vaccine, eventually saving lives.
TB has largely been eradicated from Australia, but is more common in northern Australia, particularly in Cape York and Torres Strait Islands.
The latest available Queensland Health data shows the state treated 189 people for TB infections in 2023.
Dr Kupz said Cape York and the Torres Strait Islands were most susceptible because of their proximity to Papua New Guinea, which experiences high rates of infection.
"Papua New Guinea is actually a hotspot for tuberculosis globally, not just in terms of the numbers of TB they have, but also drug-resistant strains," he said.
Port Moresby-based health advocate Anne Clarke said the 45,000 TB cases recorded in Papua New Guinea in the past year were a significant strain on the health system and economy.
"The exposure of the wider community to this infectious disease agent is about 100 per cent in this town," Dr Clarke said.
"Everybody is affected."
Dr Kupz said he hoped his team's research would eventually lead to more effective protection against infections.
"Pending ethical approvals, we hope to see it go to human trial by the end of 2026 or early 2027," he said.
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