BD’s extrapulmonary TB infection rate 18.2pc, mortality 3.6pc: Report
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The extrapulmonary TB infection rate is 18.2 per cent with a 3.6 per cent mortality rate in Bangladesh, as the diagnosis method remains less accessible and challenging, said health specialists citing a global report.
Extrapulmonary TB (EPTB) is TB outside the lungs that includes lymphadenitis (often cervical), abdominal TB, skeletal TB and genitourinary (renal) TB.
Such TB diagnosis is quite challenging, the health specialists said in a study findings dissemination programme titled “Diagnostic for Lymph Node Tuberculosis Using Portable Station/Mobile TB Lab” organised at Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University (BSMMU).
Portable thermal imaging and pocket size ISO thermal PCR method will be used to diagnose lymph nodes (Lymph Node TB) quickly. Due to its portability, this method can be used for screening at remote sites. For this reason, it is named Mobile TB Lab, according to the study.
BSMMU Vice-Chancellor Prof Dr Md Sharfuddin Ahmed addressed the event as chief guest of the orientation ceremony.
He said the study will play a groundbreaking role in Lymph Node Tuberculosis in the future.
The BSMMU VC thanked the researchers for using artificial intelligence in this study.
Noting that this study is a basic research, he said such basic research would enhance the prestige of the university and help eradicate tuberculosis in the country.
Associate Prof Dr Shaheda Anwar of BSMMU Department of Microbiology & Immunology and ICDDR'B Chief Researcher Scientist Dr Dinesh Mondal presented the main article at the event.
Associate Prof Dr Shaheda Anwar presented the research background and research method as site principal investigator.
TB, an infectious disease caused by a bacterium that primarily affects lungs and spreads through the air when infected people speak, cough, sneeze, or spit.
Globally, TB remains a major public health problem, with an estimated 10.6 million people catching the disease and 1.6 million dying from it in 2021.
In the same year, an estimated 375,000 new TB incidences developed in 2021 and 42,000 died from the disease in Bangladesh in 2021, according to the WHO Global Tuberculosis Report 2022.