Serrekunda

Researchers are evaluating whether N-acetylcysteine NAC can help prevent post-tuberculosis lung disease PTLD in patients who have severe lung problems caused by pulmonary tuberculosis. The study also monitors the safety of NAC. It aims to find out if NAC improves lung function measured by FEV1% over 12 months in patients with pulmonary tuberculosis and risk factors for PTLD, and what medical issues or side effects occur during treatment. The trial compares NAC plus standard TB treatment to standard TB treatment alone. Participants will be randomly assigned to receive either NAC at a dose of 1800 mg twice daily along with standard TB treatment for the first 6 months, or standard TB treatment alone for 6 months. After the treatment period, participants will be followed for an additional 6 months. Standard TB treatment consists of fixed dose combination tablets. The trial is open-label and has parallel groups. During the 12-month study, participants will attend scheduled clinic visits for respiratory assessments, blood tests, and symptom monitoring. They will also complete quality-of-life questionnaires and provide sputum and blood samples at various times. Researchers will measure lung function, respiratory symptoms, quality of life, and laboratory markers including sputum culture and blood glutathione. Safety will be monitored through recording adverse events and liver function tests.

Researchers are conducting a cluster randomized trial to evaluate the impact of seasonal mass vaccination with the R21Matrix M vaccine on malaria transmission and illness across all ages. The study involves 54 villages in The Gambia and Burkina Faso, comparing villages that receive the vaccination with those that do not. The trial aims to measure malaria prevalence, infection incidence, clinical malaria cases, safety, vaccination coverage, and cost-effectiveness during and after the vaccination seasons. In the intervention villages, all eligible residents will receive three monthly doses of the R21 vaccine from May to July 2024, before the malaria transmission season starts, followed by a booster dose in June 2025. Control villages will continue with standard malaria control measures like seasonal chemoprevention and insecticide-treated bed nets. After each vaccination, a subset of participants will be monitored for side effects and asked to report any illness occurring within 28 days. Participants will be involved in surveys to measure malaria prevalence at peak transmission seasons after the initial and booster vaccinations. Blood samples will be collected from selected individuals to assess malaria infection incidence, and passive case detection will track clinical malaria occurrences during the transmission seasons. Safety monitoring includes collecting reports of adverse events following vaccination. The study will last through the 2025 malaria transmission season, with assessments up to six months after vaccinations.