Ugandan Doctors are joining a search for a new vaccine that would prevent the TB disease that is becoming more rampant especially among people Living with HI/AIDS.
The doctors at Makerere University's Infectious Diseases Institute are part of the global team working to replace the currently available TB vaccine Bacille Calmette-Guerin (BCG).
The vaccine developed nearly 90 years ago and provides some protection against serious forms of TB in children. But it is not reliable against pulmonary TB, which accounts for much of the global disease burden.
Moses Joloba, head of the department of microbiology at Makerere University's medical school, says the infectious Diseases Institute is being supported by Aeras Global TB Vaccine Foundation as one of the clinical testing sites in Africa.
He says the institute has acquired a laboratory built with world-class which is to be used TB diagnose and treat most complicated TB.
Uganda ranks 16th out of the 22 countries in the world with the highest TB burden.
Insufficient resources, non-adherence to TB treatment has left an increasing number of Ugandan developing Multi-Drug Resistant TB which is even very expensive to treat.
