Making TB the Next Polio

BU Today

Jerrold Ellner, MD, infectious diseases

When Jerrold Ellner started working in infectious disease, schistosomiasis was a greater concern to international health professionals than tuberculosis. Fast forward a few decades and TB is now among the greatest public health threats worldwide.

Expert quote:

If Ellner’s team is successful, TB could be the world’s next polio. “We could eliminate TB by 2050,” he says. “If you can eradicate the latent reservoir, it means you prevent further transmission. When people reactivate their TB, they infect another 20 people, and then the problem exists for another generation. But if you treat the people and prevent them from developing infectious TB, then you can really stop it.”

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