TB in South Africa

6 August 2003

Dr Robert Wilkinson, an affiliate of the Wellcome Trust's Centre for Research in Clinical Tropical Medicine at Imperial College, has been awarded a Career Post in Tropical Medicine, the most senior of the Trust's fellowships for clinicians with an interest in international health research. Dr Wilkinson will be studying tuberculosis in Cape Town, South Africa, a region where HIV and TB are major causes of premature death. Dr Wilkinson aims to study new methods for predicting the development of active TB from latent TB infection, the potential benefits of preventative therapy in badly affected areas, and the puzzling adverse reactions seen in some TB patients taking anti-TB drugs. The research will complement two Wellcome Trust-Burroughs Wellcome Fund international TB projects at Imperial, run by Professor Mike Levin (also centred on Cape Town) and Professor Doug Young (TB in Mexico).