From a revolutionary way of testing children for tuberculosis to a cure for a previously untreatable strain, scientists from across the globe launched a fresh broadside Thursday against the world's deadliest infectious disease. Tuberculosis, a severe lung infection that is curable but historically hard to detect, kills more people each year than HIV/AIDS, and more than three times more than malaria.
Despite its potency - there were 1.7 million TB deaths in 2017 and certain strains are more deadly than Ebola - efforts to confront the disease have lagged behind those aimed at other communicable diseases. More than 4,000 experts on lung health are gathering this week in The Hague and on Thursday they unveiled several new weapons in the battle against tuberculosis. One potential game changer is a new method of testing children under five for the disease. An estimated 240,000 children die from tuberculosis every year. The disease is curable and rarely deadly in infants if diagnosed and treated in time.
But as much as 90 percent of tuberculosis deaths in children are untreated cases. The current test relies on the patient providing a sample of sputum - phlegm from the lower windpipe. The sample is then analysed by a special machine, which then gives a result.
But as children under five cannot spit up sputum, doctors have to submit them to an invasive and painful procedure that often requires staying the night in hospital.
Researchers in Indonesia and Ethiopia found a way of testing children's stool for the disease instead, meaning there would be no need for them to travel to a large health facility and they could be examined even in small villages or remote rural areas.
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