Food: the tuberculosis vaccine we already have

Something marvellous occurred in the USA in the 20th century. Between 1900 and 1944, deaths from tuberculosis plummeted from about 200 people per 100 000 to approximately 50 people per 100 000 population. 1 Merrill RM Davis SS Lindsay GB Khomitch E Explanations for 20th century tuberculosis decline: how the public gets it wrong. J Tuberc Res. 2016; 4: 111-121 Crossref Google Scholar There was no widely available treatment or vaccine for tuberculosis at the time. So why was tuberculosis in retreat? The force driving this trend is believed to be socioeconomic transformation—better living conditions, better public health action, and better nutrition. 2 Cegielski JP McMurray DN The relationship between malnutrition and tuberculosis: evidence from studies in humans and experimental animals. Int J Tuberc Lung Dis. 2004; 8: 286-298 PubMed Google Scholar Nutritional supplementation to prevent tuberculosis incidence in household contacts of patients with pulmonary tuberculosis in India (RATIONS): a field-based, open-label, cluster-randomised, controlled trialTo our knowledge, this is the first randomised trial looking at the effect of nutritional support on tuberculosis incidence in household contacts, whereby the nutritional intervention was associated with substantial (39–48%) reduction in tuberculosis incidence in the household during 2 years of follow-up. This biosocial intervention can accelerate reduction in tuberculosis incidence in countries or communities with a tuberculosis and undernutrition syndemic. Full-Text PDF