Tweet
CAPE TOWN (South Africa), Nov 10 (Bernama) -- Ringing the alarm bells for a possible future epidemic of an extensively drug-resistant type of tuberculosis, including in India, the 38th Union World Conference on Lung Health went underway here Friday to discuss ways to eliminate the disease, Press Trust of India (PTI) reported.
The global conference, organised by the International Union Against Tuberculosis and Lung Diseases, an NGO, comes in the backdrop of the World Health Organisation (WHO) having received reports of at least one case of XDR-TB, a type of TB that is resistant to all available drugs, including those used to treat the types that do not respond to multi-drug treatment, from 41 counties to date.
Two-thirds of the XDR-TB cases have been reported from China, India and Russia.
While four per cent of the 8.8 million TB cases in the world are resistant to drugs, China has the largest number of XDR-TB patients, followed by India. Western Europe, however, has the highest rate of drug-resistant TB.
In the wake of the increase in the number of XDR-TB cases, experts have called for developing new vaccines, drugs that reduce the treatment time from the current six to nine months and faster diagnostic techniques.
"The diagnostic process is cumbersome. It takes at least six months to treat and we do not have a good vaccine," said Dr Mario Raviglione, Director of the Stop TB Department of the WHO.
Raviglione said at present 96 per cent of the 8.8 million TB cases reported in a year are drug-susceptible in nature, while the remaining four per cent are either multi-drug resistant (MDR) or XDR types.
"The worst case scenario for us is when MDR and XDR types will completely replace the drug-susceptible strains," he said.
Dr Giorgio Roscigno, CEO of the Switzerland-based Foundation for Innovative New Diagnostics, said new tools were needed to realise the 2050 target set by the Stop TB Campaign to eliminate the disease.
"The drugs that are most commonly used to treat TB are at least 40 years old. The vaccine we have is 80 years old and diagnostic techniques need to be upgraded," he said.
He, however, said there has been tremendous developments in the field of drug research in the last five years, adding seven new drugs were in clinical trial at the moment, with two of them reaching the advanced Phase II and III stages of testing.
Roscigno also informed that a new vaccine was in Phase I trial and could be put to use seven to ten years from now.
Irene Koek of the United States Agency for International Development called upon donors to come together and enhance the funding for efforts to fight spread of the disease.
"The resources that we have are not enough. Donors need to enhance funding for the programmes that we have for fighting tuberculosis," she said.
The global conference, organised by the International Union Against Tuberculosis and Lung Diseases, an NGO, comes in the backdrop of the World Health Organisation (WHO) having received reports of at least one case of XDR-TB, a type of TB that is resistant to all available drugs, including those used to treat the types that do not respond to multi-drug treatment, from 41 counties to date.
Two-thirds of the XDR-TB cases have been reported from China, India and Russia.
While four per cent of the 8.8 million TB cases in the world are resistant to drugs, China has the largest number of XDR-TB patients, followed by India. Western Europe, however, has the highest rate of drug-resistant TB.
In the wake of the increase in the number of XDR-TB cases, experts have called for developing new vaccines, drugs that reduce the treatment time from the current six to nine months and faster diagnostic techniques.
"The diagnostic process is cumbersome. It takes at least six months to treat and we do not have a good vaccine," said Dr Mario Raviglione, Director of the Stop TB Department of the WHO.
Raviglione said at present 96 per cent of the 8.8 million TB cases reported in a year are drug-susceptible in nature, while the remaining four per cent are either multi-drug resistant (MDR) or XDR types.
"The worst case scenario for us is when MDR and XDR types will completely replace the drug-susceptible strains," he said.
Dr Giorgio Roscigno, CEO of the Switzerland-based Foundation for Innovative New Diagnostics, said new tools were needed to realise the 2050 target set by the Stop TB Campaign to eliminate the disease.
"The drugs that are most commonly used to treat TB are at least 40 years old. The vaccine we have is 80 years old and diagnostic techniques need to be upgraded," he said.
He, however, said there has been tremendous developments in the field of drug research in the last five years, adding seven new drugs were in clinical trial at the moment, with two of them reaching the advanced Phase II and III stages of testing.
Roscigno also informed that a new vaccine was in Phase I trial and could be put to use seven to ten years from now.
Irene Koek of the United States Agency for International Development called upon donors to come together and enhance the funding for efforts to fight spread of the disease.
"The resources that we have are not enough. Donors need to enhance funding for the programmes that we have for fighting tuberculosis," she said.
Comment