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In what may be a watershed moment in the fight against tuberculosis, the world’s most lethal infectious disease, an experimental new vaccine has protected about half the people who got it, scientists reported on Tuesday. While a 50 percent success rate is hardly ideal — the measles vaccine, by contrast, is about 98 percent protective — about 10 million people get tuberculosis each year, and 1.6 million die of it. Even a partly effective vaccine may save millions of lives. (McNeil, 10/29)

There is a TB vaccine now, but it's given only to very young children and partly prevents severe complications. Researchers have been seeking a vaccine that also works in adults, to curb spread of the disease. GlaxoSmithKline's experimental vaccine was tested in nearly 3,600 adults in Africa. Results were reported Tuesday at a conference in India and published by the New England Journal of Medicine. (10/29)

Dr Lewinsohn estimates that, if if all goes well, the vaccine should reach people who most need it by about 2028. Researchers say proving that the vaccine works often requires studies that are much larger than required for viral diseases such as measles. Drug firm GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) has been working on the TB vaccine for nearly 20 years. (Biswas, 10/29)