The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases has released is 2024 NIAID Strategic Plan for Tuberculosis Research Update (https://www.niaid.nih.gov/sites/default/files/tb-strategic-plan-2024.pdf).
The updated plan proposes to advance four TB research priorities:
- Improve fundamental knowledge of TB
- Advance research to improve the diagnosis of TB
- Accelerate research to improve TB vaccine development
- Support research to advance therapeutic strategies to treat and prevent TB
The ATS filed comments in August 2023 responding to the NIH Request for Information to update the first Strategic Plan for Tuberculosis Research, which was published in 2018.
The ATS recommended that several specific research needs be addressed, including:
-characterizing post-TB lung disease with varying TB profiles, including, for example, pulmonary, extra-pulmonary, and disseminated
-understanding the impact of short-and new-TB treatment regimens on post-TB outcomes
-understanding the natural history of TB, especially in high-burden countries, by developing large multi-country cohorts
