Old TB drugs, older tests driving spread of drug resistance: Gates

New Delhi: March 25, 2011

Microsoft chairman and philanthropist Bill Gates said the large number of deaths in the world due to tuberculosis was unacceptable and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation was all for supporting a low-cost affordable vaccine for the disease. “Whatever helps the poorest, we are committed to it,'' Mr. Gates said at an interaction with the media here on “Maximising India's Capacity: Creating an Ecosystem of Innovation and Research to Address Public Health Concerns,'' organised by the Ministry of Science and Technology. TB was preventable and treatable, but the most common TB test was more than 125 years old and it missed half the cases. By the time most TB patients were correctly diagnosed and treated, they may have unknowingly infected many others — creating an endless cycle.

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