Tuberculosis Patients Still Waiting for New Diagnostic Tools and Treatment

As a teenager I thought that tuberculosis would be a disease of distant memory by the time I reached 40.   But a disease that was once virtually wiped out is on the rise with a vengeance.  plk

 

 

Tuberculosis Patients Still Waiting for New Diagnostic Tools and Treatment

Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF)

http://www.doctorswithoutborders.org/news/tuberculosis/index.cfm

 

The number of tuberculosis (TB) cases is increasing worldwide. This is particularly true in countries with high HIV prevalence. There is still no evolution in terms of development of new diagnostic tools and treatment. The only available ones are archaic and do not allow the efficient detection and treatment of TB in developing countries, where 99 percent of deaths occur.

Tuberculosis is one of the three main killer infectious diseases. Each year, nearly 9 million people develop the disease of which about two million die, mainly in developing countries. The worst situation is found in Africa where most of the patients co-infected with HIV live.

In this context, diagnostic tools and treatments remain limited and archaic. "To diagnose the disease, we still rely on the microscope examination of sputum, a method developed more than 120 years ago and that only allows the detection of 45-65 percent of cases. This rate is even lower for patients infected by both HIV and TB," says Dr. Marie-Eve Raguenaud, a TB specialist with Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF). Due to the inefficiency of the test, the treatment of half the patients in developing countries is often delayed or not started at all

Also, treatment is long and complex. First-line treatments used today were developed 50 years ago. Patients have to follow a daily treatment for 6 to 8 months which is cumbersome and therefore likely to be interrupted if no support system is in place. At the same time, it is crucial to follow the treatment to completion in order to make sure it is effective and to avoid the development of drug resistance. This may lead to a new episode of sickness or even to death.

To avoid the interruption of treatment, the strategy recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO) requires that patients take their drugs under the direct supervision of medical staff or a trained member of the community. This means that, in most cases, patients have to go to a health center to perform this daily action. This strategy is burdensome for patients and limits access to treatment for TB patients. Also, treatment is long and complex. First-line treatments used today were developed 50 years ago. Patients have to follow a daily treatment for 6 to 8 months which is cumbersome and therefore likely to be interrupted if no support system is in place. At the same time, it is crucial to follow the treatment to completion in order to make sure it is effective and to avoid the development of drug resistance. This may lead to a new episode of sickness or even to death.

Read the rest of the article:  http://www.doctorswithoutborders.org/news/tuberculosis/index.cfm