New vaccines aim to eradicate tuberculosis

Develop new highly effective vaccines against tuberculosis It is one of the missions proposed by the World Health Organization (WHO) in the shortest possible time.

To this end, the organization has launched a plan to establish a Council to Accelerate Tuberculosis Vaccination.

What is required is to follow the example of the covid-19 pandemic, when new vaccines were developed in less than a year.

This council will facilitate the licensing and deployment of effective TB vaccine innovators, encouraging high-level alignment among funders, global agencies, governments and end-users to identify and overcome barriers to TB vaccine development, the council said. WHO Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.

BCG is currently the only licensed vaccine against tuberculosis; however, it offers moderate efficacy in infants and young children, but does not adequately protect adolescents and adults.

The coordinator of the National Tuberculosis Control Program of the Ministry of Health (Minsa), Edwin Aizpurúa, admitted that a more effective vaccine is needed.

In Panama alone, according to the 2022 National Tuberculosis Program report, 1,518 cases have been registered nationwide.‘

10.6

Millions of people will be infected with tuberculosis in the world in 2021, according to the WHO.

85%

people who contract the bacteria do well.

Of this total, 337 are registered in the Panamanian subway; Bocas del Toro, with 208; in San Miguelito 164 cases; Colon, with 135; Western Panama, with 145; Eastern Panama, with 121 cases.

While 106 cases of tuberculosis were registered in Chiriquí; regions, Guna Yala and Ngäbe Buglé, both with 65 cases; North Panama, with 58; Veraguas, with 40 boxes.

They are followed by Coclé with 37 cases; Herrera, 15; Darién with 12 and Los Santos with 10 cases of tuberculosis.

Regarding the distribution of incident TB cases by gender, the report revealed that in 2022, a total of 985 men and 533 women were infected with TB.

The age range with the highest number of patients is 25-34 years (350 cases), then the range between 35-44 (262 cases), 15-24 (254 cases), 45-54 (212 cases), from 55-64 (169 cases ), over 64 years (161 cases), 5-14 (62 cases), 1-4 (45 cases) and under 1 year (3).

On this topic, Ramón Castillo, regional coordinator for tuberculosis control in Chiriquí, explained that in this province, half of the cases are in the city of David.

“We have 14 districts, but paradoxically, out of 100 cases, half are in urban areas,” he added.

The doctor explained that in Chiriquí there are two new cases of tuberculosis per week and this has been the case for the past five years, even with the covid-19 pandemic.

He noted that with the new vaccine, there could be a drop in the annual incidence of tuberculosis at the international level.

For his part, the President of the Panamanian Organization Against Tuberculosis (OPAT), Amador Goodridge, stated that during the quarantine, since children did not go to school, they were probably exposed to adult patients with tuberculosis.

The expert warned that cases of childhood tuberculosis are recorded in our health system, not only in early forms, but also patients who are already arriving at hospitals and are more difficult to treat.

As for creating new TB vaccines, Goodridge said there is hope to improve BCG, which is designed only to reduce severe cases of TB.

He added that countries like Panama, which has a very strong vaccination system, could benefit from an accelerator council to implement new vaccine candidates to control tuberculosis in the country.

How has Panama progressed in controlling tuberculosis?

dr. Edwin Aizpurúa explained that due to the recommendations of the WHO, the “End tuberculosis” strategy is currently being worked on, which aims to reduce mortality, reduce the incidence rate of tuberculosis and the costs of families during the time of seeking a diagnosis for tuberculosis, until 2035.

That is why they are running an intensive campaign telling people who have four symptoms of tuberculosis, whether it is a cough lasting more than 15 days, fever, night sweats, weight loss, to go to health centers to be tested and rule out the disease.

“I think this is the only way we can detect tuberculosis early, break the chain of transmission, after treatment has started, and thus reduce both incident cases and mortality from tuberculosis,” said the expert.

Until the end of January, Minsa is waiting for a drug that will shorten the treatment time and prevent the transition from infection to disease.

Tuberculosis is an infectious disease of the respiratory system that is transmitted through the air, coughing, speaking, singing and mainly attacks the lungs, but it can affect other organs as well.

People who are most exposed to the risk of contracting tuberculosis are those whose immune system is weakened, such as HIV, diabetics, and kidney patients.

In addition, persons deprived of liberty residing in overcrowding, children under the age of five living with adults with tuberculosis, among others.