Fife leading efforts to eradicate ‘white death’

St Andrews University scientists at head of global bid to wipe out tuberculosis

Fife is at the forefront of the world’s efforts to try to eradicate tuberculosis once and for all.

Scientists at St Andrews University, along with those at University College London, are leading international work on ground-breaking advances toward finding new tuberculosis (TB) drugs that are more effective, simpler to use, safer and cheaper.

Tuberculosis is still found in every country in the world and is the single biggest infectious disease killer of our time – affecting more than 10 million people and claiming the lives of around 1.4 million people each year.

It is becoming more and more resistant to current treatments, some of which are more than 50 years old and consist of multiple drugs and injections that are unbearable for patients and puts already overburdened health systems in poorer countries under greater strain.

However, with World TB Day falling today, Professor Steven Gillespie, who leads the infection group at St Andrews University’s School of Medicine, said he believes that UK-supported scientific research being carried out on our doorstep is bringing society closer to a new solution.

He said: “I’ve been doing research on TB for many years and when I speak to friends and colleagues they say: ‘But I thought TB had gone away?’

“But the reality is that TB never went away for many countries throughout the world and it’s the most frequent cause of death through an infectious disease.

“So it’s really essential that we try to find new treatments because this is going to be a major problem in the future if we don’t develop new TB drugs.

“The main symptoms have been the same as they’ve always been – it was known in the 19th Century as consumption because patients had fevers and they wasted away.

“It was also known as the white death because they were pale and fading away with this chronic chest infection. People were coughing, febrile and losing weight.

“The World Health Organisation has set a goal for TB eradication and, to be honest, I think it is feasible because humans are, effectively, the only real source of the disease. If we can find good, safe and short treatments, you can see a time where you can interrupt transmission and eradicate the disease.”

The disease is most severe in sub-Saharan Africa but there are still a small number of cases seen in Scotland each year.

The Department for International Development (DFID) has pledged £55 million to the TB Alliance between 2013 and 2021 to advance innovative TB treatments that aim to save lives, improve patients’ quality of life, and bring large savings for individuals and health systems in the world’s poorest places.

Significant progress has already been made, with the TB Alliance launching the first child-friendly treatments for children with drug-sensitive TB, though currently patients with extensively drug-resistant TB have to take a dozen or more pills each day and, in some cases, injections for two years or longer.

Now, though, scientists in St Andrews are testing a new, simpler drug combination for patients – cutting the number of pills to just three – which could give them a much better chance of survival.

“TB is very like another disease, almost a disease of history, which is leprosy,” Professor Gillespie added.

“Leprosy has almost disappeared and that’s because we’ve got a very safe, effective and short treatment regimen for that. That disappeared in about 10 to 15 years, and TB could go the same way.

“That’s why the support the UK Government gives to the TB Alliance is so important.”

Picture: David Wardle. Professor Steven Gillespie says it is essential that new treatments are found to combat TB.