Despite significant progress over the decades, tuberculosis as well as zoonotic TB remain one of the world’s deadliest diseases, with an estimated 1.25 million deaths in 2023, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).
A more serious phenomenon is the emergence of forms of TB resistant to the conventional antibiotics. This is a major public health challenge for which the Afrique One consortium (at the Centre Suisse de Recherches Scientifiques en Côte d’Ivoire, CSRS) is addressing through research with the financial support of the Science For Africa Foundation (SFA) and the Wellcome Trust as part of the Developing Excellence in Leadership, Training, and Science in Africa (DELTAS Africa) programme.
From 2016 to 2022, Afrique One contributed to the improvement of TB diagnostic tools. For the first time in Ghana, the QuantiFERON TB Gold-In-Tube (QFT-GIT) tool was used for the detection of tuberculous infection among household contacts of TB patients. It has proven to be more context-specific than previous TB infection tests. Furthermore, in Tanzania, research has contributed to improve diagnosis in adults with multidrug-resistant tuberculosis which usually escape from routine diagnostics.
According to Mr Togolani Maya, PhD fellow at Afrique One and member of the Afrique One research group on infectious diseases, “it is important to determine the genetic relationship of the bacteria responsible for tuberculosis in both animals and humans. The control or elimination of tuberculosis in animals is just important as in humans, because TB is transmitted between these two hosts. This is why we are conducting research that will help us understand interspecies transmission so that we can develop effective control and elimination measures.”
Dr. Gloria Ivy Mensah, co-leader of Africa One’s research group on infectious diseases, said: “The studies we are conducting will help to better understand the bacterial strains that cause tuberculosis and their patterns of resistance to the drugs we depend on for treatment. It will identify common drug resistance mutations in livestock and humans.”
Indeed, control or even the elimination TB cannot be effective by taking into account only the human sector. “Our research approach is holistic, transdisciplinary and based on the One Health approach in order to identify the appropriate evidence that will make it possible to better fight TB and ensure a healthier future for all. We invite stakeholders regardless, their discipline, sectors, and geographic zones to act now, invest now, deliver now. Together, yes we can end TB. “, says Prof. Bassirou Bonfoh, Director of Afrique One at CSRS.
