CHENNAI: Thanks to a new test, the Government hospital for thoracic medicine in Tambaram will soon be able to detect tuberclosis within two hours and give out results within a day as against three months which the procedure takes now.
The hospital, which detects close to 1,000 TB cases a month, launched a new, free-of-cost molecular test using GeneXpert MTB/RIF device, an automated diagnostic test that can be used outside of conventional laboratories.
The equipment was commissioned on Tuesday, which was observed as World Tuberculosis day.
“The device can identify Mycobacterium tuberculosis and resistance to Rifampicin (an antibiotic used to treat TB) by nucleic acid amplification technique (NAAT). In a nutshell, this device helps in early detection of HIV and TB,” said Dr C Chandrashekar, superintendent at the hospital.
Unlike the conventional smear microscopy culture which takes up to three months to get the results, and is not completely accurate, GeneXpert MTB/RIF device has the ability to detect all positive TB cases with an accuracy of 99 per cent.
Explaining the merits of the new procedure, S Anandan, member of the Tamil Nadu TB department employees association, said, “The conventional test results would take at least two months, by which time there are chances that others around the patient would also get infected.”
Also, while waiting for the results, some patients tend to disregard other tests and develop Multi Drug Resistance (MDR) TB that does not respond even to the two most powerful drugs - Isoniazid and Rifampicin, Anandan added.
The Genexpert test can test four samples simultaneously and the diagnosis can be done within two hours, thus eliminating the risk of MDR TB, Anandan said.
The device is approved by World Health Organisation (WHO) and costs around Rs 12 lakhs.
It has been set up in Government hospitals in Madurai, Chennai, Kovai, Coimbatore, Vellore, Salem and Namakkal.
In Chennai, Genexpert was first introduced in Tuberculosis Research Centre, Chetpet.
“One device in each district can make a huge difference. We test a minimum hundred samples a day, and the results are declared the next day,” said Prof Suryakumar from Madurai Medical College (MMC) who attended the launch event.
The Genexpert was set up in MMC’s microbiology department two years ago.
In 2013, the hospital detected 7,519 people with mycobacterium tuberculosis whereas in 2014 the number reduced to 6310.
Officials say that with newer molecular tests like Genexpert the numbers can come down even more.
“With several hospitals in the city diagnosing TB and the rise in awareness among people, the load has reduced considerably.”
“With such tests coming up, doctors can diagnose and help more number of patients and they can soon be treated accordingly,” said Chandrashekar.
The hospital will begin using the device in a month as it would need some time to study its working before implementation, said Chandrashekar.