Machine to spot TB in 90 mins
Kuala Lumpur, Oct. 13: One in three cases of tuberculosis in Asia-Pacific go undiagnosed, the WHO said on Tuesday as it approved a new machine that can identify multi-drug-resistant strains in just 90 minutes.
The machine, developed with the help of the Gates Foundation, is one of a number of tools being deployed to help identify more than 600,000 cases that go undetected in the region.
The World Health Organisation adviser, Ms Catharina Van Weezenbeek, said the machine detects resistance to the powerful drug rifampicin, a process that would normally take up to six weeks in an advanced laboratory.
“The machine is the size of a cappuccino machine and is a standalone and can be made available at the district health office level, which means that we can now detect multi-drug strains of TB in just 90 minutes and much more accurately, quickly and cost-effectively,” she said.
Ms Van Weezenbeek said that although WHO estimates there are 1.94 million TB cases in the Asia-Pacific, only 1.3 million of them get identified because of a lack of equipment and laboratory facilities. “The whole idea about TB control is not only to save people but to cut the chain of transmission before the situation worsens,” she said.
The Xpert MTB/RIF machine was developed by the Foundation for Innovative new Diagnostics, a Geneva-based non-profit body funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
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