“We are in the process of doubling the bed capacity” in the TB isolation unit, she said. Government officials said Saturday they are considering invoking special quarantine powers to help deal with the outbreak. Health Minister Amenta Matthew said she is drafting legislation to give the director of health power to quarantine persons who do not voluntarily comply with TB prevention requirements. “Currently, there are patients who continuously move around the community with TB disease, posing the threat of exposing others to the disease,” said Matthew. The archipelago of some 55,000 people would be better served by doing away with the lengthy court process now required and giving the public health director authority to place patients in isolation, she said. In January, a patient was brought to court for failing to take treatment and remain in isolation. The judge, lawyers, witnesses, and defendant were required to wear masks to prevent the spread of TB during the hearing, but the session ended inconclusively, and the patient returned to the community.

The randomized, placebo-controlled trial was conducted with the involvement of Muhimbili University of Health and Allied Sciences (MUHAS) in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, and was supported by a grant from the US National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. According to Dr. Ford von Reyn, Director of the DarDar International Programs for the Section on Infectious Disease and International Health at DMS, the next step would be to improve manufacturing methods so that larger quantities of the vaccine could be produced for further studies and clinical use. Development of the vaccine will be done by the Aeras Global TB Vaccine Foundation in Rockville, MD, United States, in conjunction with Immodulon Therapeutics of the United Kingdom.