A Year in Review on Tuberculosis and Non-tuberculous Mycobacteria Disease: A 2025 Update for Clinicians and Scientists

Christoph Lange^{1

2

3

4}, Graham Bothamley^{5

6

7}, Gunar Günther^{8

9}, Lorenzo Guglielmetti^{10

11}, Irina Kontsevaya¹², Liga Kuksa¹³, Berit Lange^{14

15}, Natalie Lorent^{16

17}, Francesca Saluzzo^{18

19}, Martina Sester^{20

21}, Marc Tebruegge^{22

23

24}, Simone Tunesi²⁵, Conor Tweed²⁶; Tuberculosis Network European Trials group (TBnet)

Affiliations

¹ Infectious Diseases, Research Center Borstel, Leibniz Lung Center, Borstel, Germany.
² Clinical Tuberculosis Unit, German Center for Infection Research (DZIF), Hamburg-Lübeck-Borstel-Riems, Germany.
³ Respiratory Medicine and International Health, University of Lübeck, Germany.
⁴ Baylor College of Medicine and Texas Children's Hospital, Global TB Program, Houston, Texas.
⁵ Homerton University Hospital, London, United Kingdom.
⁶ Queen Mary University of London, London, United Kingdom.
⁷ London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, London, United Kingdom.
⁸ Department of Pulmonology, Allergology and Clinical Immunology, Inselspital Bern, Bern University Hospital, Bern, Switzerland.
⁹ Department of Clinical Sciences, School of Medicine, University of Namibia, Windhoek, Namibia.
¹⁰ Sorbonne Université, INSERM, U1135, Centre d'Immunologie et des Maladies Infectieuses, Cimi-Paris, Paris, France.
¹¹ Assistance Publique Hôpitaux de Paris, Groupe Hospitalier Universitaire Sorbonne Université, Hôpital Pitié-Salpetrière, Centre National de Reference des Mycobactéries et de la Resistance des Mycobactéries aux Antituberculeux, Paris, France.
¹² Department of Infectious Disease, Faculty of Medicine, Imperial College London, London, United Kingdom.
¹³ Tuberculosis and Lung Disease clinic, Riga East University hospital, Riga, Latvia.
¹⁴ Department of Epidemiology, Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research.
¹⁵ German Center for Infection Research, TI BBD.
¹⁶ Department of Respiratory Diseases, University Hospital Leuven, Leuven, Belgium.
¹⁷ Department of Chronic Diseases, Metabolism and Aging, Laboratory of Respiratory Diseases and Thoracic Surgery (BREATHE), KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium.
¹⁸ IRCCS San Raffaele Scientific Institute, Milan, Italy.
¹⁹ Vita salute San Raffaele University, Milan, Italy.
²⁰ Department of Transplant and Infection Immunology.
²¹ Center for Gender-specific Biology and Medicine (CGBM), Saarland University, Homburg, Germany.
²² Department of Child and Adolescent Medicine & Austrian National Reference Centre for Childhood Tuberculosis, Klinik Ottakring, Vienna Healthcare Group, Vienna, Austria.
²³ Infectious Diseases Network, Vienna Healthcare Group, Vienna, Austria.
²⁴ Department of Paediatrics, University of Melbourne, Parkville, Australia.
²⁵ Infectious Diseases Unit, AOU SS Antonio e Biagio e C. Arrigo, Alessandria, Italy.
²⁶ MRC Clinical Trials Unit, University College London, London, United Kingdom.

PMID: 40062355
PMCID: PMC11888605
DOI: 10.20411/pai.v10i2.791

Review

A Year in Review on Tuberculosis and Non-tuberculous Mycobacteria Disease: A 2025 Update for Clinicians and Scientists

Christoph Lange et al. Pathog Immun. 2025.

. 2025 Mar 2;10(2):1-45.

doi: 10.20411/pai.v10i2.791. eCollection 2025.

Authors

Affiliations

¹ Infectious Diseases, Research Center Borstel, Leibniz Lung Center, Borstel, Germany.
² Clinical Tuberculosis Unit, German Center for Infection Research (DZIF), Hamburg-Lübeck-Borstel-Riems, Germany.
³ Respiratory Medicine and International Health, University of Lübeck, Germany.
⁴ Baylor College of Medicine and Texas Children's Hospital, Global TB Program, Houston, Texas.
⁵ Homerton University Hospital, London, United Kingdom.
⁶ Queen Mary University of London, London, United Kingdom.
⁷ London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, London, United Kingdom.
⁸ Department of Pulmonology, Allergology and Clinical Immunology, Inselspital Bern, Bern University Hospital, Bern, Switzerland.
⁹ Department of Clinical Sciences, School of Medicine, University of Namibia, Windhoek, Namibia.
¹⁰ Sorbonne Université, INSERM, U1135, Centre d'Immunologie et des Maladies Infectieuses, Cimi-Paris, Paris, France.
¹¹ Assistance Publique Hôpitaux de Paris, Groupe Hospitalier Universitaire Sorbonne Université, Hôpital Pitié-Salpetrière, Centre National de Reference des Mycobactéries et de la Resistance des Mycobactéries aux Antituberculeux, Paris, France.
¹² Department of Infectious Disease, Faculty of Medicine, Imperial College London, London, United Kingdom.
¹³ Tuberculosis and Lung Disease clinic, Riga East University hospital, Riga, Latvia.
¹⁴ Department of Epidemiology, Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research.
¹⁵ German Center for Infection Research, TI BBD.
¹⁶ Department of Respiratory Diseases, University Hospital Leuven, Leuven, Belgium.
¹⁷ Department of Chronic Diseases, Metabolism and Aging, Laboratory of Respiratory Diseases and Thoracic Surgery (BREATHE), KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium.
¹⁸ IRCCS San Raffaele Scientific Institute, Milan, Italy.
¹⁹ Vita salute San Raffaele University, Milan, Italy.
²⁰ Department of Transplant and Infection Immunology.
²¹ Center for Gender-specific Biology and Medicine (CGBM), Saarland University, Homburg, Germany.
²² Department of Child and Adolescent Medicine & Austrian National Reference Centre for Childhood Tuberculosis, Klinik Ottakring, Vienna Healthcare Group, Vienna, Austria.
²³ Infectious Diseases Network, Vienna Healthcare Group, Vienna, Austria.
²⁴ Department of Paediatrics, University of Melbourne, Parkville, Australia.
²⁵ Infectious Diseases Unit, AOU SS Antonio e Biagio e C. Arrigo, Alessandria, Italy.
²⁶ MRC Clinical Trials Unit, University College London, London, United Kingdom.

PMID: 40062355
PMCID: PMC11888605
DOI: 10.20411/pai.v10i2.791

Abstract

Background: In the field of tuberculosis and non-tuberculous mycobacterial (NTM) disease we are looking back on an exciting year 2024 with more than 10,000 publications listed in PubMed.

Methods: Our aim, to review the scientific literature of the year 2024, is challenged by the enormous number of publications. Therefore, if your article is not included or your favorite field of mycobacteriology not covered, please forgive us. Our "Year in Review" is very much clinically oriented with lesser emphasis on basic science, microbiology, and biotechnology.

Results: Members of the steering committee of the Tuberculosis Network European Trials group (TBnet; www.tbnet.eu) report on 139 publications in the fields of epidemiology, prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of tuberculosis and NTM diseases published in 2024 that we found particularly important. We report publications separately for tuberculosis in children and adults and for NTM disease and provide a brief overview of newer technologies in the diagnostic pipeline. Furthermore, we summarize priorities for tuberculosis and NTM disease research, development, and implementation, all of which represent the perspective of our combined clinical experience.

Conclusions: This Year in Review provides a concise summary of the clinically relevant highlights of the published literature in tuberculosis and NTM diseases in 2024.

Keywords: NTM; TB; TBnet; pediatric TB.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

All authors are members of the steering committee of the Tuberculosis network European Trials group (TBnet; www.tbnet.eu). CL has received honoraria for speaking at symposia sponsored by Astra Zeneca, INSMED, Gilead, GSK, medUpdate, and medUpdateEurope where the sponsor did not have influence on the content of the presentations. MT is currently receiving an honorarium for PI work from bioMérieux via his institutions and has previously received support from Cepheid and Cellestis/Qiagen for diagnostic tuberculosis studies. IK is employed by Otsuka Novel Products GmbH and has received consultation fees from Qiagen outside of the scope of this work. MS has received grant support from Astellas, Biotest, and Takeda to the organization Saarland University outside the submitted work, is PI of a TBnet study where Qiagen provided test kits free of charge, and has received honoraria for lectures from Biotest, MSD, and Moderna, and for advisory boards from Moderna, Biotest, MSD, and Takeda. All other authors declare no conflict of interest related to the contents of this manuscript.

Figures

**Figure 1.**
Estimated incidence of tuberculosis in 2023 (courtesy of the WHO [1])

**Figure 2.**
Summary of treatment recommendations for multidrug-resistant/rifampicin-resistant tuberculosis (MDR/RR-TB), pre-extensively resistant tuberculosis (pre-XDR-TB = RR-TB with additional resistance to any fluoroquinolone) and extensively resistant tuberculosis (XDR-TB = pre-XDR-TB with additional resistance to bedaquiline and/or linezolid) by the World Health Organization at the end of 2024. * = these regimens for fluroquinolone-resistant, rifampicin-resistant tuberculosis are recommended based on very low certainty of evidence, coming from studies which were either uncontrolled or included both fluoroquinolone-susceptible and fluoroquinolone-resistant tuberculosis cases, with the latter representing only a small subgroup. FQ-S, fluoroquinolone-susceptible; FQ-R, fluoroquinolone-resistant; epTB, extrapulmonary tuberculosis; PLHIV, people living with HIV; 6, 9, 11, treatment duration in months; B, bedaquiline; Pa, pretomanid; L, linezolid; M, moxifloxacin; D, delamanid; Lfx, levofloxacin; C, clofazimine; Z, pyrazinamide; E, ethambutol; Hh, high-dose isoniazid; Eto, ethionamide; DST, drug susceptibility testing.

See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

1. World Health Organization. Global tuberculosis report 2024. Geneva Switzerland: 2024 Contract No.: CC BY-NC-SA 3.0 IGO.
1. Ratnatunga CN, Lutzky VP, Kupz A, Doolan DL, Reid DW, Field M, Bell SC, Thomson RM, Miles JJ. The Rise of Non-Tuberculosis Mycobacterial Lung Disease. Front Immunol. 2020;11:303. doi: 10.3389/fimmu.2020.00303. PubMed PMID: 32194556; PMCID: PMC7062685. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
1. Jarchow-MacDonald A, Smith M, Seagar AL, Russell CD, Claxton P, Laurenson IF, Moncayo-Nieto OL. Changing Incidence and Characteristics of Nontuberculous Mycobacterial Infections in Scotland and Comparison With Mycobacterium tuberculosis Complex Incidence (2011 to 2019). Open Forum Infect Dis. 2023;10(1):ofac665. doi: 10.1093/ofid/ofac665. PubMed PMID: 36726549; PMCID: PMC9879710. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
1. Dahl VN, Pedersen AA, Norman A, Rasmussen EM, van Ingen J, Andersen AB, Wejse CM, Lillebaek T. Clinical Significance, Species Distribution, and Temporal Trends of Nontuberculous Mycobacteria, Denmark, 1991–2022. Emerg Infect Dis. 2024;30(9):1755–62. doi: 10.3201/eid3009.240095. PubMed PMID: 39173666; PMCID: PMC11346989. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
1. Shaw ES, Stoker NG, Potter JL, Claassen H, Leslie A, Tweed CD, Chiang CY, Conradie F, Esmail H, Lange C, Pinto L, Rucsineanu O, Sloan DJ, Theron G, Tisile P, Voo TC, Warren RM, Lebina L, Lipman M. Bedaquiline: what might the future hold? Lancet Microbe. 2024;5(12):100909. doi: 10.1016/S2666-5247(24)00149-6. PubMed PMID: 39074472. - DOI - PubMed

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A Year in Review on Tuberculosis and Non-tuberculous Mycobacteria Disease: A 2025 Update for Clinicians and Scientists

Affiliations

A Year in Review on Tuberculosis and Non-tuberculous Mycobacteria Disease: A 2025 Update for Clinicians and Scientists

Authors

Affiliations

Abstract

Conflict of interest statement

Figures

References

Publication types

LinkOut - more resources

Full Text Sources