Kathleen England
TB diagnostics and Laboratory Development, USA
Title: Understanding the TB diagnostic landscape and priority gaps to achieve the 40 by 2022 goals.
Biography
Biography: Kathleen England
Abstract
Today the global TB community calls for strong actions and commitments from local governments to address priority gaps to “End TB” by 2035. Over many decades, resources have poured into TB control programs with very little progress in preventing disease, stopping transmission, and identify cases with TB disease (all forms). The WHO 2018 Global TB report identifies that only 64% of the annual estimated 10 million new cases of “active” TB were detected and notified in 2017, leaving a gap of 36% undiagnosed. Of the 5.5 million new and relapse pulmonary TB patients notified globally in 2017, only 56% were bacteriologically confirmed. This demonstrates a continued reliance on clinical diagnosis by symptom screening or abnormalities on chest radiography. Further, the new WHO TB prevention and control guidance pushes countries to implement and increase active case finding strategies which includes the identification of 25% of the world population infected with latent TB. In order to truly impact the current TB epidemic, the role of accurate diagnosis is critical for all forms and states of this disease. This presentation will outline current areas for research and developments within the diagnostic pipeline for TB and outline critical gaps and challenges in getting new technologies to the patients in high burden low-to-middle income countries.