Spending on TB control programmes had dropped to 2016 levels in 2020 and remains unchanged

Contrary to popular opinion, tuberculosis (TB) has not been eliminated in Singapore.

- Dr Manbeena Chawla

In fact, TB is an endemic disease, and in 2020, Singapore detected 1,370 cases of active TB. The burden of active TB cases in Singapore has continued to hover around 3040 cases per 100,000 persons each year for the past decade, and nearly 80 per cent of the new cases of TB, in 2020, are from persons born in Singapore. QIAGEN recently collaborated with the Tuberculosis Control Unit (TBCU) of Singapore to light up the TBCU building in support of the "Light up RED for TB" campaign. QIAGEN's goal is to gradually shift the focus in the direction of preventive testing and treatment in order to protect individuals from TB reactivation, and therefore prevent the spread of TB to others. To find out more about the company's initiatives towards TB detection in APAC, BioSpectrum Asia spoke to Patrick Che, Sales Development Manager, QuantiFERON, South East Asia, QIAGEN. Edited excerpts;

How is QIAGEN helping to reduce the growing burden of TB in APAC? QIAGEN promotes TB prevention (Test and Treat strategy for individuals who are at risk of developing active TB) as a means to reduce overall active TB burden in APAC. It is estimated that 1.5 million people died from TB in 2020 and over 1.4 billion people are currently infected with TB. The US CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) estimates that 1 in 10 with TB infection will go on to develop active TB disease at some point in their lifetime. It is important to emphasise that preventive treatment for TB, particularly for individuals who carry a higher than normal risk of developing active disease, is the only way to stop TB before it spreads to others. The World Health Organisation (WHO) also identifies Latent TB Screening (LTBI) as a key pillar in their global EndTB Strategy.