2015_03_27_istun_instituto_suizo
A researcher from the Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute gives a lecture at lecture on tuberculosis at ISTUN.
Mireia Coscollá spoke about the challenges she faces in the research against this disease that causes more than one million deaths a year.
PHOTO: Courtesy
"Finding a vaccine against tuberculosis will not be easy. Although it is a piece core topic in the fight against this disease, the behavior of the bacterium that causes it and how our immune system reacts to it is still not fully understood". This was pointed out by Mireia Coscollá, researcher at high school Swiss Tropical and Public Health (STPH), during her visit at the University of Navarra. The microbiologist gave several sessions at the high school of Tropical Health (ISTUN), the department of Microbiology and Parasitology and the School of Medicine.
Despite the obstacles in the progress against tuberculosis, the microbiologist highlighted the emergence of new and very useful technologies that make it possible to analyze images in a simple way and facilitate the diagnosis of diseases "in those places or small health centers that lack experts and more advanced diagnostic methods".
On the other hand, he explained that the lack of funds for the research of tropical diseases is a problem, however,"there are more and more organizations interested and supporting the research against this subject of ailments such as the Bill Gates Foundation". "Tuberculosis has to be a goal for all those who want to improve the health of the planet," he added.
Finally, he referred to the work they do at high school Swiss Tropical and Public Health. "We work to better understand the disease and develop diagnostic methods and treatments. We study the evolution and diversity of the bacteria and how that affects the disease making it more or less virulent. For this we always collaborate with countries like Tanzania, Uganda or Ghana in Africa and Georgia in Europe."
Tuberculosis is a bacterial infection that mainly affects the lungs. It is a highly prevalent disease worldwide, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa and Southeast Asia. In 2013, more than 1,200,000 people died and more than 8 million contracted the disease. Currently, there is a highly effective childhood vaccine against it, but there is still no effective and safe treatment to stop development of this disease in adults.