HEALTH NOTES: Researchers are testing inhaled tuberculosis vaccine as cases increase
Experts are looking for a more effective vaccine against tuberculosis (TB) amid rising infections.
Researchers at the University of Oxford’s Jenner Institute are recruiting volunteers who have had a BCG shot and are given an inhaled booster.
Scientists hope to prove that inhaling the drug through the lungs – where tuberculosis droplets enter and infect the body – will better stimulate the immune system to fight the disease. The BCG shot is generally given to babies and young children, but it is thought to wear off over time.
The UK Health Security Agency announced in September that tuberculosis cases in England had increased by seven percent in the first half of 2023, with 2,408 cases, compared to 2,251 in the first half of 2022.
Dr. Esther Robinson, head of the tuberculosis unit at UKHSA, said: ‘Tuberculosis is curable and preventable, but despite significant progress towards elimination in recent years, the disease remains a serious public health problem in Britain .’
Researchers at the University of Oxford’s Jenner Institute are recruiting volunteers who have had a BCG shot and are given an inhaled booster
A quarter of people referred by the NHS for diagnostic tests have to wait six weeks or more.
Medical negligence firm Patient Claim Line analyzed NHS England data from October 2023 and found that of the almost 1.6 million people waiting for tests, 393,583 had been on the list for more than a month and a half. About 160,000 people had experienced delays of more than three months.
People seeking urodynamic tests – which analyze how well the bladder can hold and release urine – were at the highest risk of lengthy delays, with 42 percent having to wait six weeks or more.
People seeking urodynamic tests – which analyze how well the bladder can hold and release urine – were at the greatest risk of long delays, with 42 percent having to wait six weeks
AI app that detects fake medicines
Artificial intelligence (AI) is being used to help people discover whether the medicines they have purchased are counterfeits.
A smartphone app created by AI company Cypheme says its detection technology can identify counterfeit products by comparing images of drug packaging with images of real products to check for subtle differences.
Users take a photo on their smartphone of the product they want to review and then upload it to the AI software ChatGPT so that Cypheme’s software can scan it and immediately reveal whether or not it is real.
It is believed that one in ten people in Britain alone have bought fake medical products in the past year, as criminal gangs intercept shipments of medicines and swap them for similar counterfeits. The most commonly purchased in Britain include erectile dysfunction and slimming pills.
Medicines purchased on unreliable websites are also much more likely to be fake. Although there is no single method for detecting these, suspicious websites are often poorly designed with many pop-up ads, spelling and grammar errors, and advertisements for prescription medicines on the homepage – which is illegal in Britain.