E-DRUG: MSF: Simple & Rapid Diagnostic Tools Key for Fighting TB
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Doctors Without Borders/Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF)
For Immediate Release
Contact: Kris Torgeson, +1-212-655-3764
DEVELOPMENT OF SIMPLE AND RAPID DIAGNOSTIC TOOLS
KEY FOR FIGHTING TUBERCULOSIS
Geneva/New York, Tuesday March 22, 2005 b Without a simple, rapid test for
detecting tuberculosis (TB), care providers in developing countries will
continue to miss about half of all the people who need tuberculosis
treatment. Efforts to control TB globally will be undermined, said the
medical humanitarian organization Doctors Without Borders/Medecins Sans
Frontieres (MSF).
bI am sick and tired of watching TB kill my patients. It often feels as
though I practice medicine with my hands tied behind my back. Since I have
to use a 19th-century diagnostic tool that is wrong more times than not, it
is like being blindfolded as well,b said Dr. Martha Bedelu, an MSF
physician working in South Africa.
Diagnosing TB in developing countries still relies on sputum microscopy, a
diagnostic method that was developed 123 years ago. It only detects TB
bacilli in 45-60% of all people who have TB, and is even less effective for
those who have both HIV and TB b over 30% of the nearly 40 million people
living with HIV/AIDS globally. bIn the era of the HIV/AIDS pandemic, this
is untenable: TB is the number one killer of people with HIV/AIDS. Whatbs
more, the test doesnbt work at all in children,b said Dr. Bedelu.
Nearly nine million people develop TB disease every year, and the vast
majority of them live in developing countries, where 99% of all TB deaths
occur and where 90% of all people living with HIV/AIDS live. Yet most
existing efforts to develop more effective TB tests are technology-driven
and focus on the more lucrative Western markets.
bMSF is committed to participating in the development of new tests by
assessing the feasibility of new technology in our field projects. But we
fear that current product development is not going to result in an
easy-to-use rapid method of diagnosing TB in all patients,b said Dr
Francine Matthys, TB advisor for MSFbs Campaign for Access to Essential
Medicines. bWe need something similar to what our teams now use for
malaria: a simple test which yields results almost instantly and can be
used by any laboratory technician, nurse or health workers even when far
away from a laboratory.b
MSF is well aware of the challenges of TB diagnosis and has been working
with experts to see how the development of diagnostic tests adapted to the
needs of patients and health personnel in developing countries could be
accelerated.
bWe need a lot more investment and interest in basic science that looks at
completely new ways of diagnosing TB,b said Dr Matthys. bResearch and
product development intended to simplify and reduce the cost of existing
diagnostic techniques and other more rapid, simple, sensitive and specific
methods must be supported.b
MSF is upgrading the laboratory facilities it uses by enhanced microscopy,
and improving diagnostic and follow-up of treatment with culture, X-rays,
drug sensitivity testing and training of local staff. bBut the longer it
takes to introduce a truly useful and simple tool for detecting TB, the
bigger the number of people dying of TB without ever having had a chance to
know what killed them,b Dr Francine Matthys said.
MSF treats TB patients in nearly 50 projects in 24 countries worldwide.
16,500 TB patients were admitted in MSF projects in 2004 and many more were
diagnosed by MSF and referred to national TB programs. MSF advocates for
improved TB care and more research and development into better TB vaccines,
diagnostic tests, and treatments.
Read MSFbs report on TB: bRunning Out of Breath: TB Care in the 21st
Centuryb
ttp://www.doctorswithoutborders.org/publications/reports/2005/tbreport_2005.pdf
TB Fact Sheet:
http://www.doctorswithoutborders.org/news/2005/tb_factsheet_2005.pdf
SPECIAL EVENT:
World TB Day March in New York City
b Thursday, March 24, 12 noon, Union Square Park South
Doctors Without Borders members dressed in white lab coats and wearing the
protective masks required for those treating TB will walk through the city
handing out 5000 white masks stamped with the message bTreat TB Nowb to
symbolize the 5000 people who die of TB each day around the world. Call
Kris Torgeson at 212-655-3764 or 917-913-0183 for more details.
www.doctorswithoutborders.org
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Rachel M. Cohen
U.S. Director, Campaign for Access to Essential Medicines
Doctors Without Borders/MC)decins Sans FrontiC(res (MSF)
333 Seventh Avenue, 2nd Floor * New York, NY * 10001-5004 * USA
Tel: +1-212-655-3762
Mobile: +1-917-331-9077
Fax: +1-212-679-7016
E-mail: rachel.cohen@newyork.msf.org
http://www.doctorswithoutborders.org/
http://www.accessmed-msf.org/