Googling tuberculosis reveals some shocking statistics- one third of the world's population has been affected with the illness, and new infections occur at a rate of one per second. The proportion of people in the general population who become sick with tuberculosis each year is stable or falling worldwide but, because of population growth, the absolute number of new cases is still increasing.
TB remains the seventh leading cause of death worldwide, killing more than 1.5 million people annually. 90% of people carrying TB have "latent" infections, and have no symptoms. The 10% of people who go on to develop full-blown TB infect, on average, another 10-15 people per year.
There is therefore a critical need to detect latent TB infection, particularly in the developing world.
A group of researchers at Colorado State University (CSU) have demonstrated a new way to use light to detect traces of TB bacteria in fluids. The researchers have developed a technique that can sensitively detect different molecular markets indicating a TB infection. The test would be cheap to use and no more difficult to administer than a pregnancy test, making it ideal for use in the developing world.
TB is curable after a lengthy course of antibiotics. The basic strategy of the WHO's efforts to curb the spread of TB worldwide is to simply find the people infected and give them the antibiotics to cure the disease. Currently however, finding the people infected is difficult, particularly those infected with latent symptoms. The CSU development could go a long way to helping detect these people, but it could be some time before it is widely available, as it will need to undergo significant clinical trial testing.
No comments:
Post a Comment