The Pace of Tuberculosis Diagnosis Has Declined from 2 Months to 2 Hours

  The Director of Health Network Development of Mashhad University of Medical Sciences stated that the regional laboratories of the east of the country (Foreign Skill Testing Program) are controlled, evaluated, and validated qualitatively every year by the Swedish Transnational Laboratory. This year, the Regional Tuberculosis Reference Laboratory of Mashhad University of Medical Sciences won top rankings and succeeded in obtaining the Certificate of Approval from the Swedish Transnational Laboratory.

In an interview with WEBDA, Dr. Derakhshan stated that the identification of pathogens and helping with keeping track of the treatment process are among the programs of this laboratory. He added that tuberculosis, which is caused by mycobacterium tuberculosis, has been one of the most important infectious diseases in history.

Stating that laboratories are among the powerful pillars of the health team for the diagnosis and identification of risks, he stated that this epidemic will be solved with the help of diagnostic laboratory services and timely interventions.

Sputum sampling is performed on 3 per 1000 people in health centers

The Director of Health Network Development of Mashhad University of Medical Sciences stated that successful treatment of tuberculosis takes 6 to 8 months. He added that modern technology is required in order to control this disease. Therefore, the Regional Tuberculosis Reference Laboratory of Mashhad University of Medical Sciences established standard physical space in 2011. With the implementation of the Health System Reform Plan, this laboratory has been equipped with a variety of the most advanced tuberculosis cellular and molecular diagnostic devices.

Dr. Derakhshan added that before the development and equipment of the Regional Tuberculosis Reference Laboratory of the east of the country, in this university, microbes were increased to 10 thousand per each milliliter of the sample to identify positive smear cases, and it took two months for the tuberculosis microbe to grow in laboratory culture media in order to identify the positive tuberculosis.

The Director of Health Network Development of Mashhad University of Medical Sciences stated that this long time not only disables patients but also imposes a large cost to them and increases the risk of this disease among healthy people in such a way that every person suffering from tuberculosis can affect 15 healthy people in the society every year. Therefore, there must be a plan for more rapid diagnosis of the disease and necessary medical measures must be taken.

High-speed cellular and molecular methods are effective in the diagnosis of this disease

He emphasized that fortunately, highly sensitive molecular and cellular methods (able to identify 10-100 organisms in a sample) are today able to identify this disease at optimum speed in the shortest time possible.

Dr. Derakhshan added that with the equipment of the laboratory as well as the deployment of experts and experienced and trained forces, the ground for doing cellular and molecular tests and determining medicinal sensitivity has been paved. Also, the establishment of differential and complementary tests for the diagnosis of other types of mycobacterium, which have similar clinical symptoms but different medicinal selection, are among the other priorities of this department that have now been made possible to implement.

He emphasized that after the equipment and establishment of the most advanced devices in the Regional Tuberculosis Reference Laboratory of the east of the country, which covers the universities of North Khorasan, Torbat-e Jam, Gonabad, Sabzevar, Torbat-e Heydarieh, and Nishabur, there is no more need to send sputum samples to other universities for early diagnosis of the disease. In 2012, Mashhad University of Medical Sciences succeeded in diagnosing tuberculosis using the molecular method in the shortest time possible.

Dr. Derakhshan added that the regional laboratories of the east of the country (Foreign Skill Testing Program) are controlled, evaluated, and validated qualitatively by the Swedish Transnational Laboratory every year. This qualitative control is based on the skill assessment of the personnel and determination of microbial sensitivity to first-line drugs of tuberculosis treatment including isoniazid, rifampin and ethambutol.

The Regional Tuberculosis Reference Laboratory of the Ministry of Health has obtained an approval certificate from the Swedish Transnational Laboratory

Dr. Derakhshan stated that in the Regional Tuberculosis Reference Laboratory of the Ministry of Health, the motivated relevant personnel have managed to respond to the samples correctly and obtain top rankings. This achievement has ultimately led to the obtaining of an approval certificate from the Swedish Transnational Laboratory.

Stating that the period for the diagnosis of tuberculosis microbe has declined to 2 hours from 8 weeks, which is a valuable achievement, he added that tuberculosis can now be diagnosed in the laboratory sample in two hours and that this achievement prevents the patient from mental and physical suffering.