This Sunday, March 24th, is World TB Day. Tuberculosis is still killing 1.3 million people each year. This is unacceptable. Many of these deaths are preventable -- we have the drugs to cure TB! But we continue to lack the political will and sufficient funding to ensure that people can get timely treatment, new drugs are developed, and stigma is eliminated. But we at MCN keep fighting, because no one needs to die from an ancient disease that is curable. There are tough challenges ahead, but there is also a LOT to bring up our spirits. Celebrate MCN’s TB fighters – Del, Ed, and Laz -- on our social media (and see some great throwback photos!) this week – send them some love in the comments! And there is some really great news (triple Weekly Win!) and solid new resources to report, so here’s our TB-themed Five on Friday to keep you updated in the world of TB.  

Del is in Thailand at the Global Fund Advocates Network meetings strategizing on how to replenish the global fund to fight TB, AIDS, and malaria, but she still found time to think of us as Five on Friday and send in this new report from Results. Stigma Kills: Why Medicine Alone Won’t End Tuberculosis 

A new study found that more than 80% of people who have confirmed pulmonary TB do not have the primary symptom associated with the disease. One of the authors of the study of more than 600,000 people in Asia and Africa said in the press release, “It's clear that current practice, especially in the most resource-poor settings will miss large numbers of patients with TB... We should instead focus on X-ray screening and the development of new inexpensive and easy-to-use tests." More Than 80% of TB Patients Lack Persistent Cough, Study Finds 

Weekly Win: Congratulations, Ed! Our Founding Medical Director is one of the CDC’s 2024 US TB Elimination Champions! If you want a solid pick-me-up, read about the incredible and meaningful work that TB Elimination Champions are doing, all across the nation. 2024 CDC US TB Elimination Champions 

Weekly Win: 2023 was a huge year for TB drug bedaquiline. After a lot of controversy, pushback from several countries, and a massive publicity campaign headed up by YouTuber John Green, Johnson & Johnson dropped its patent pricing on bedaquiline in many low- and middle-income countries. Here, Doctors without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières summarizes what happened and how it will affect TB treatment in low-income countries. Bonus: Check out their new pediatric TB resource at the bottom of the page.  MSF Responds to Groundbreaking News that Johnson & Johnson Will Not Enforce Patents on Key TB Drug Bedaquiline in Low- and Middle-Income Countries 

Weekly Win: Speaking of YouTube king and best-selling YA novel author John Green, he continues to be the ultimate TB social media influencer. Here, he describes the incredible randomized controlled trial that showed that we could cut multi-drug resistant TB treatment length from 18 months to just 9 months, with inexpensive yet highly effective drugs! Watch his video from December to learn more (and, thank you, John Green, for elevating the fight against TB!). MASSIVE Tuberculosis News  

Have a safe and healthy weekend!