Nip TB In The Bud!

Good news! Good news for those who want go in for TB tests but are apprehensive and suspicious about the currently used lengthy method of testing.

The World Health Organization and a number of global health partners have teamed up and announced the $26.1 million initiative wherein they will begin converting the molecular-based testing laboratories in more than two-dozen of the poorest nations to genetics testing (for tuberculosis) laboratories.

"Line probe assay," a kind of DNA test will be used by the clinicians for diagnosing the deadly TB. The new test will be useful in determining a patient's TB status also.

This test will give the results within a day whether someone is infected with a strain of tuberculosis that is resistant to the more common antibiotic drugs so more aggressive therapy needs to be started.

TB tests which are employed currently involve a culture that can take weeks to months to process, at a time when the number of cases of multi-drug resistant tuberculosis, or MDR-TB, is growing.

TB is difficult to diagnose because many of its symptoms, such as fever, fatigue, and loss of appetite. "Line probe assay" can provide a much quicker result than existing testing methods, for which results take up to several weeks.

FIND is a Geneva-based organization that developed the rapid TB test for clinical use and is now helping countries to prepare to use the new laboratory technology.

Rick O'Brien is head of project evaluation for FIND.

"We see this test as having the potential to revolutionize the diagnosis of MDR-TB and make a significant contribution to controlling this expanding and critical epidemic," he said.

With this initiative, field trials of the DNA test in South Africa were followed which showed that the new test performed as well or better than the worn-out method of diagnosing TB with a microscope.

According to Officials, each DNA test costs approximately five dollars, and it takes about one week to train a laboratory technician.

A pilot project was conducted in Lesotho, which now has a state-of-the-art laboratory system ,officials say.

"We say today that Lesotho, one of the poorest countries on the Earth, has a laboratory system that is equivalent to those that you find in the best countries in Europe or North America. So it's something that requires a focused effort but is feasible," said Mario Raviglione, director of Stop TB at the WHO in Geneva.

Ethiopia is expected to be ready to employ the new DNA TB tests by the end of the year.

Over the next three years the technology will be phased in 14 more countries.