DUBAI // Health officials in the capital hope to use a rapid detection test for tuberculosis that would reduce the time for cases to be diagnosed during the visa-screening process.
Using a tuberculosis polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test would reduce the waiting time necessary for testing TB cultures, which currently takes six to eight weeks, said Dr Mariam Al Mulla, head of the communicable diseases department at Health Authority Abu Dhabi (Haad).
TB cases are confirmed through cultures. Separate tests can indicate the likelihood that a person has TB.
During the visa-screening process, applicants undergo a chest X-ray. If they have a lesion – a sign that they could have TB – they are given a preliminary test that determines the likelihood of them having the disease, although those who test negative will still need another test.
Those with a high probability of having TB are taken to a hospital for treatment, Dr Al Mulla said. A PCR test can then be used to diagnose the disease faster than the culture would.
Dr Al Mulla said Haad had done an evaluation study on the rapid-detection test and hoped that it would soon be used in Abu Dhabi.
TB remains a serious global health issue, along with the spread of HIV, which has weakened the immune systems of many who may not have otherwise developed the disease.
Last year, 8.6 million new TB cases were reported, and 1.3 million people died, according to the World Health Organisation.
“This is an unacceptable, very large number,” said Dr Al Mulla, considering that diseases such as TB can be treated.
A third of the world has the bacterium causing TB, but only about 10 per cent develop active cases in their lifetimes.
While TB cases have dramatically decreased among Emiratis in the past two decades, the UAE’s growth has brought higher numbers of expatriate workers from countries where TB is more common.
In 2012 the UAE started to implement a GCC programme for testing visa applicants in their home countries. The first phase of the UAE part of the programme included only applicants from Sri Lanka and Indonesia.
Prevalence of communicable diseases among expat workers is higher in the UAE than other GCC countries because it joined the programme only last year, said Dr Tawfiq Khoja of Saudi Arabia, director general of the Health Ministers’ Council for Cooperation Council States Executive Board.
“I hope with their enrolment in this programme, the prevalence and incidence of cases should come down, as happened in the GCC, from 20 per cent to 4.5 per cent,” Dr Khoja said.
lcarroll@thenational.ae
