Author: Bavesh Kana, Head of the Centre of Excellence for Biomedical TB Research, University of the Witwatersrand

HEALTH

Gene editing could add new power to a 100-year-old vaccine

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Tuberculosis dates back more than 9,000 years. It is the most infectious bacterial disease and in 2022 10.6 million people fell ill with it. Of these 23% occurred in Africa. The only vaccine against tuberculosis, the Bacillus Calmette-Guérin (BCG) vaccine, is more than 100 years old and is primarily effective for infants and young children. Researchers at the University of the Witwatersrand School of Pathology have made a significant breakthrough in vaccine development by gene-editing the BCG to make it more effective. Mice vaccinated with the modified BCG vaccine were better able to limit tuberculosis growth in their lungs than…

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