TB research done here can be used in other countries too

Sayera Banu: It was because of my interest in research that I joined icddr,b as soon as I completed my MBBS.
Then I later went to Japan where I worked on tuberculosis among other infectious diseases.
I got a degree in medical science from Japan. After I returned home from Japan, I got the opportunity for post-graduate training in tuberculosis at the Louis Pasteur Institute in Paris.
I earned my PhD degree under Stewart Cole, internationally renowned for deciphering the genome sequence of tuberculosis.
At the time, icddr,b was not doing any work on an important matter as tuberculosis.

In short, there are three reasons behind my interest in tuberculosis: The tuberculosis problem is something very big; there was no work being done on tuberculosis at the time; and there was plenty of scope for research. Upon my return from Paris, I created a small TB lab and began working on tuberculosis.
Sayera Banu: According to the World Health Organisation report, around 379,000 persons contracted tuberculosis in Bangladesh in 2022 and 42,000 died of tuberculosis. Also, 4,900 persons developed multidrug resistant TB (MDR TB). In 2022, a total of 262,731 TB patients were identified, which was 69 per cent of the affected persons. That means 31 per cent remained undiagnosed. Around 3,500 of the MDR TB patients remained undiagnosed. These people are spreading tuberculosis or multidrug resistant tuberculosis.
I have noticed that people are unwilling to test themselves for tuberculosis. It is only when their condition deteriorates seriously that they get tested or seek treatment. GeneXpert machines are used in 50 per cent of the cases to diagnose patients in the country. In the remaining 50 per cent, the conventional microscopes are used. GeneXpert machines must be used in all cases. Children’s TB is not being properly diagnosed in the country. Around 8 to 12 per cent of the diagnosed TB cases should be children, but only 4 per cent are diagnosed. That means even if many children have tuberculosis, it is not being diagnosed, not being treated.

These statistics indicate that the problem is serious. We must be more attentive towards tuberculosis.

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