The Nigeria Institute of Medical Research (NIMR) has emphasised the urgent need to intensify effort for advanced diagnostic and management of tuberculosis (TB) in Nigeria.
A Research Fellow at NIMR, Dr Chioma Kunle-Ope who made this known at the institute’s monthly briefing in Lagos, said the country had a high prevalence of drug resistance tuberculosis in patients.
TB is an airborne infectious disease caused by organisms of the Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex.
Kunle-Ope said that treatment for drug resistance tuberculosis is complicated, making treatment duration longer when compared to tuberculosis that is not drug resistance.
According to her, the institute’s main focus on the disease which is endemic in Nigeria, is on mycobacterium tuberculosis which affects the lungs.
“Tuberculosis is caused by a germ called mycobacterium and there are many genes of mycobacterium and the non-tuberculosis of mycobacterium.
“Our main research focus has been on mycobacterium tuberculosis and we are able to know through our research that most of the TB patients also have drug-resistance type.
“These patients are hard to treat and most of the drugs available don’t work effectively and that is why these patients stay longer on treatment,” she said.
The researcher, however, noted that in spite of the drug resistance, the disease was treatable and curable if patients adhered strictly to their treatment routine.
She disclosed that NIMR recently ventured into tuberculosis genomics, stating that its research showed that most of the diagnostic tools available in the country didn’t give prompt result for diagnosis.
“Recently, we’re able to move further to TB genomics and we discovered it takes up to six to eight weeks to get a patient’s results.
”We introduced molecular diagnosis for the disease, with this, the diagnosis is done through mapping so that patients can be diagnosed and put into treatment promptly,” she said.
The Director-General of NIMR, Prof. John Obafunwa said the institute would increase its scope of research on TB, to address its high prevalence in the country.
Obafunwa urged healthcare providers to provide detailed information on tuberculosis patients to ensure accurate and thorough process for diagnosis.
He added that the Center for Tuberculosis Research (CTBR), a collaborative research centre in the Department of Microbiology in NIMR, would continue to enhance its research capacity
The first National Tuberculosis Reference Laboratory in Nigeria is domiciled within CTBR in NIMR.
The Centre, founded in 2017, contributes to the World Health Organisation End TB Strategy programme through research, service and training.
The CTBR also conducts a range of multi-disciplinary research and training by dedicated scientists and support staff in collaboration with universities, public and private sector organisations within the sub-region and internationally.
NAN
