TB Centre Activities
Summer courses, Research Day and monthly Seminars are useful for researchers, implementers and policy-makers in Global Health
Special Thanks
"A special thanks to the Charles O. Monat Foundation for their generous and continued support for TB research"
YouTube Channel
Our webinar series on Epidemiology for Health Journalists is a useful tool for communicating scientific publications.
The 8th Edition of the Canadian TB Standards was released on World TB Day, March 24th 2022!
Get the full publication here.
The BCG World Atlas Second Edition - Updated in 2020
A Database of Global BCG Vaccination Policies and Practices - http://bcgatlas.org/
The first of its kind, the BCG World Atlas is a database of policies and practices of the Bacillus Calmette-Guérin (BCG) vaccine, the only licensed vaccine for tuberculosis (TB) from countries all over the world.
The Online TST/IGRA Interpreter
This tool estimates the risk of active tuberculosis for an individual with a tuberculin skin test reaction of ≥5mm, based on his/her clinical profile. It is intended for adults tested with standard tuberculin (5 TU PPDS, or 2 TU RT-23) and/or a commercial Interferon Gamma release assay (IGRA) - www.tstin3d.com
TB Center in the Media
TB and COVID-19, a joint battle?
On World TB Day 2022, we are looking at how researchers from the McGill International TB Centre at the RI-MUHC are working to raise awareness and to put an end to TB.
Researchers from the McGill International TB Centre at the RI-MUHC are working to raise awareness and to put an end to TB.
L to R: Drs. Madhukar Pai, Faiz Ahmad Khan, Dick Menzies, and Kevin Schwartzman.
While largely vaccinated countries of the North are abandoning health measures and seem to be "turning the page" on the COVID-19 pandemic, low- and middle-income countries are still struggling to vaccinate their populations. This not only contributes to the emergence of new SARS-CoV-2 variants, but has implications for the control of other infectious diseases, such as tuberculosis (TB). For World TB Day, we are looking at what that means and how researchers from the McGill International TB Centre at the Research Institute of the McGill University Health Centre (RI-MUHC) raise awareness on the current situation and work to put an end to TB.
Read full article here.
COVID-19 Coronavirus And Tuberculosis: We Need A Damage Control Plan
"No doubt, COVID-19 will adversely affect all routine health services everywhere. But TB services is might be one of the biggest casualties. ".
Read the Forbes article here
AIDS, TB And Malaria: Coronavirus Threatens The Endgame
"It is clear that the coronavirus pandemic has just made it incredibly difficult to script an endgame for the “Big Three” killer epidemics".
Read more
Impact of COVID-19 on TB
Briefing note | Global TB Caucus and the McGill International TB Center
TB kills 4000 people each day, and 1.5 million people each year. An estimated 10 million people fell ill in 2018, of which nearly half a million developed drug-resistant TB (DR-TB). It is the leading killer of people living with HIV/ AIDS today.
TB and COVID-19 are both airborne infectious diseases and have considerable social and economical impact. In the first quarter of 2020, COVID-19 has infected more than 700,000 people in 193 countries, and this number is rising at an alarming rate.
Anticipated impact of COVID-19 on people affected by TB and TB survivors
TB services will be impacted at various levels as resources are diverted to COVID-19 and the epidemic ramps up. So, high TB burden countries must do everything they can to protect people in treatment for TB and survivors from COVID-19 exposure.
Impact on the health care and TB infrastructure
COVID-19 will divert healthcare workforce and resources away from routine TB services. There may be a reduction in the number of health workers because of illness and self-isolation.
Impact on global TB resources
COVID-19 is already depleting and disrupting the global supply chain for all drugs, including TB medicines, and other products (e.g. N95 respirators).
In the longer term, countries may cut expenditure on TB, because of the massive economic loss due to COVID-19.
For more information on how to mitigate these impacts: English, French, Spanish, Indonesian, Portuguese and Russian
Quality of TB Care eBook
This free eBook is a compilation of a series on Quality of TB Care, published in the Journal of Clinical Tuberculosis & Other Mycobacterial Diseases.
