The "new findings" of National University of Medical Sciences (NUMS) investigator Dr. Sidra Younis, who is working with Queen Mary University London (QMUL) in diagnosing latent TB infection, could be a milestone in addressing the root cause of TB prevalence across the country.
The international community is celebrating World Tuberculosis Day on March 24 to raise public awareness of its devastating health and social consequences.
Pakistan remains the fifth largest country in the world in terms of high incidence of TB, while it is the fourth in the world for drug-resistant TB.
Of the 570,000 people get infected in Pakistan every year, about 42,000 dies due TB disease.
“NUMS aims to tackle major health problems in Pakistan and TB is high on the list. NUMS is partnering with QMUL to develop a new diagnostic test for asymptomatic TB infection.
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Once approved, this test could be a milestone in the eradication of the disease in high TB countries such as Pakistan, '' said Vice Chancellor NUMS, Lt. Gen. Syed Muhammad Imran Majeed HI (M) (Retd ) in his comments on the study by Dr Sidra Younis, Assistant Professor, NUMS Department of Biological Sciences Her postdoctoral research at QMUL in 2019 led by Professor Adrian Martineau led to a new method for diagnosing latent TB infections.
The asymptomatic form of TB is known as latent TB infection. It is estimated that about a quarter of the world's population suffers from latent TB infection.
To eradicate active TB, it is very important to diagnose and treat them with a latent TB infection. The existing tests for latent TB have a lower specificity and sensitivity.
Therefore, it is not possible to identify the group of people infected with latent tuberculosis.
This study will help identify a group of people with latent tuberculosis who can be treated preventively.
NUMS is addressing the cause of the spread of this disease through research, said Dr. Sidra, the results of which have been published in the international journal "The Lancet Microbe", which only publishes new results.
"Pakistan has the fifth highest TB burden in the world. The WHO end-TB strategy cannot be achieved until patients with latent TB infection have been identified and treated with prophylaxis.
We have a new microbiological test to detect Mycobacterium. tuberculosis evaluated in patients with latent tuberculosis infection.
This diagnostic test has potential applications for diagnosing latent TB infection, monitoring response to preventive therapy and as a result of clinical trials with interventions to prevent or treat latent TB infection, '' said Dr Sidra Younis, whose years of research London Examination of blood samples from Ethiopia led to these results and she is currently working on blood samples taken at TB Hospital Asghar Mall in Rawalpindi to validate the diagnostic test in the local population.
