Stop TB Partnership

University of Cape Town professor gives inaugural lecture on TB vaccines

4 May 2011 - Cape Town - Professor Willem Hanekom, a co-director of the South African Tuberculosis Vaccine Initiative (SATVI) has given his inaugural lecture at the University of Cape Town.

In his lecture, Vaccines to Prevent TB, Professor Hanekom argued that vaccines have the best chance of making an impact on the global TB burden. Presenting the latest findings from SATVI's vaccine trials, he reported that the four vaccines SATVI has developed so far are safe.

SATVI is now focussing on how effective the vaccines are at protecting people from TB. The challenge, Professor Hanekom said, is to identify what doctors should look for in patients' blood to tell whether the vaccination has been successful. "In studies of vaccinated babies, we were surprised to see that the currently used tests may not measure the right things to show whether they are protected or not," he said.

The SATVI group has discovered new markers that are likely to show whether a vaccine will work. This information should also help researchers better understand how people's immune systems protect them against TB, and therefore lead to the development of better vaccines.

Download the podcast of the lecture.