a first diagnostic test approved by the WHO

“This is the first diagnostic test for tuberculosis and antibiotic sensitivity that meets WHO prequalification standards,” specifies the health agency in a press release published on December 5. Le test de diagnostic Xpert MTB/RIF had already been recommended by the agency, but its prequalification allows specialized UN agencies to distribute it in countries with limited resources.

“This first prequalification of a diagnostic test of tuberculosis marks a crucial step in WHO’s efforts to help countries scale up and accelerate access to quality tests which meet both WHO recommendations and its strict standards of quality, safety and performance,” said Dr Yukiko Nakatani, WHO Assistant Director-General for Access to Medicines, in a statement. medicines and health products “This underlines. the importance of these revolutionary diagnostic tools in the fight against one of the deadliest infectious diseases in the world,” she added.

Tuberculosis has killed more than 1 million people

Tuberculosis is a fatal infectious disease caused by a bacillus (the mycobacteria of the complex tuberculosis) which affects the lungs and sometimes other organs. She is responsible for more than a million deaths across the worldand its presence in France is intensifying. At the beginning of December, the Burgundy-Franceh-Comté Regional Health Agency reported six cases in the Jura department.

Last October, the WHO announced that tuberculosis had returned last year the infectious disease causing the most deaths in the worldafter having been behind Covid-19 for three years.

“High quality diagnostic tests are the cornerstone of prevention and effective treatment of tuberculosis,” WHO Director of Regulation and Prequalification Rogerio Gaspar said in a statement. “Prequalification opens the path to equitable access to cutting-edge technologiesempowering countries to tackle the double burden of TB and drug-resistant TB,” he added.