Bacterial and host determinants of infectiousness in patients with drug-sensitive, multi- and extensively drug-resistant tuberculosis

Drug-resistant tuberculosis is an emerging public health crisis. Grant’s research aims to unlock what causes patients with drug-resistant tuberculosis to become ‘super-spreaders’ of disease. These are a small minority of patients who are responsible for 80 per cent of person-to-person transmission. Grant is using a novel cough aerosol sampling technology to classify patients in terms of their infectiousness. He will then contrast different clinical, bacteriological and behavioural factors according to the cough aerosol status of patients. The project will inform our understanding of the pathobiology of infectiousness, leading to the development of targeted interventions designed to disrupt the spread of drug-resistant tuberculosis.

This grant was awarded under the scheme's previous name of Training Fellowships in Public Health and Tropical Medicine.