Orchid News

Professor at UFS Lagarto Campus coordinates the Brazilian part of the international research on tuberculosis

Feb 22, 2023 – 9:14 AM, by Marcus Peris

The Start4all survey, which aims to identify new technologies for diagnosing tuberculosis, will be conducted in seven countries simultaneously. In Brazil, it will be coordinated by Professor Victor Santana Santos, from the Department of Medicine at Campus de Lagarto. Professor Ricardo Gurgel, from the Graduate Program in Health Sciences and the Department of Medicine at the Center for Biological and Health Sciences, in Aracaju, is also part of the team, as assistant coordinator. The network is coordinated by the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine in England.

The main objective of the Brazilian part of the research is to speed up and improve the screening and diagnosis of tuberculosis. “We are analyzing combined performance of diagnostic tests with the goal of increasing the proportion of people already diagnosed with TB in primary care, faster and with better cost-effectiveness,” he estimates. The later the diagnosis is made, the greater the chance of complications, such as lung infections. We want to help change public health policy and protocol around tuberculosis.

According to the professor, there are two groups of more specific concern: people in socio-economic vulnerability, who tend to have difficult access to health units, and people living with HIV/AIDS. The Ministry of Health’s protocol provides for HIV counseling and testing for people diagnosed with TB. Likewise, people with HIV are tested for tuberculosis. This is because co-infection with HIV and TB is an important public health problem that must be confronted,” he explains.

In addition to the individual aspect of a patient’s health, starting treatment at the onset of infection has another important advantage: breaking the chain of transmission. 15 days after the start of treatment, the person no longer carries out transmission, which is through the respiratory tract.

The consortium includes, in addition to Brazil, Bangladesh, Cameroon, Malawi, Nigeria, Kenya and Vietnam, countries with a tuberculosis burden. Teams from the UK and Switzerland are also part of the search. The states participating in the Brazilian part of the study are Alagoas and Sergipe, with the delivery of the first phase of the survey scheduled for March 2024.

After this period, a phase of the study will take place, in which the diagnostic test suite will be evaluated on a larger scale. The costs are funded by a grant from the global health agency Unitaid. The professor returned from Liverpool last Monday (13), after a period of meetings and alignment with the Faculty of Tropical Medicine and the coordinators of each country. The Start 4 All Consortium was set up by Professor Luis Cuevas, of the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, who passed away last January.