The New Nation - Internet Edition

BSS, Geneva

People in low-income countries, suffering from multidrug-resistant tuberculosis (MDR- TB), will now get a faster diagnosis in just two days with appropriate treatment instead of standard two to three months, thanks to two new global initiatives.

The new development in TB field was unveiled on Monday by the World Health Organisation (WHO), the Stop TB Partnership and the Foundation for Innovative New Diagnostics (FIND), which together announced last year in South Africa that effective TB diagnosis and treatment are on the cards.

The initiatives come ahead of the world TB conference that takes place in Nigeria next month and just one week after WHO recommended "line probe assays" for rapid MDR-TB diagnosis worldwide.

WHO sources said, the change in diagnosis was driven by data from recent studies, including a large field trial-conducted by FIND together with South Africa 's Medical Research Council (SAMRC) and National Health Laboratory Services (NHLS)-- who produced evidence for the reliability and feasibility of using line probe as says under routine conditions.

MDR-TB is the mid-extreme form of tuberculosis that responds poorly to the standard treatment because of resistance to the first-line drugs---Isoniazid and Rifampicin.

An estimated two per cent of MDR-TB cases worldwide are now being diagnosed and treated appropriately, mainly because of inadequate laboratory services.

MDR-TB also exists in Bangladesh, costs at least hundred times than normal TB treatment side by side causing a number of side effects. The treatment time is also much higher.

The government of Bangladesh, based on the poor diagnosis performance, recently launched another form of MDR-TB diagnosis in Rajshahi division.

The Stop TB Partnership said the new initiative would ensure wider diagnosis access and increase the existing proportion at least seven-fold over the next four years to 15 per cent or more.

"I am delighted that this initiative will improve both the technology needed to diagnose TB quickly, and increase the availability of drugs to treat highly resistant TB," said British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, who helped launch the Stop TB Partnership's Global Plan to Stop TB in 2006 and whose government is a founding member of UNITAID, a co-fighter against TB.

"The UK is committed to stopping TB around the world, from our funding of TB prevention programmes in the poor countries, to our support of cutting edge research to develop new drugs," Brown said.

In developing countries including Bangladesh most MDR-TB patients are tested only after they fail to respond to standard treatment. Even then, it takes two months or more to confirm the diagnosis.

Patients have to wait for the test results before they can receive life-saving second-line drugs. During this period, they can spread the multidrug-resistant disease to others.

Often the patients die before results are known, especially

if they are HIV-infected in addition to having MDR-TB. "Five months ago, WHO renewed its call to make MDR-TB an urgent public health priority," said WHO Director-General Dr Margaret Chan.