Infectious Disease

Outbreaks of Tuberculosis (TB) are hard to prevent and control. As drugs and vaccines are not always effective routes, this project proposes a method to trap and kill the microbes. With nanotechnology, a state-of-the-art approach to prevent the wide spread of the Tuberculosis (TB) bacteria by physically, chemically and biologically specific filtration is becoming a reality. The pilot study focuses on the fabrication of ultrathin, light weight and disposable antibacterial nanofilter into a filtration system. This technology would be transferred to small businesses as a business model.

Early detection of Multidrug-resistant TB can save lives. However, laboratory resources for treatment monitoring are not available in many low-resource environments. Studies have shown that cough frequency changes in patients receiving effective TB treatment but remains unchanged in patients with MDR-TB. Universidad Nacional de Ingenieria is developing software and hardware that enables a smartphone to record and count coughs during first-line tuberculosis (TB) treatment, offering a way to measure the effectiveness of treatment and to identify MDR-TB cases.

Many TB patients in India are not adequately monitored, leading to complications such as multidrug-resistance. This project will address this problem in the tribal and poor regions of Madhya Pradesh, India, by training local healthcare providers to deliver TB treatment and equipping them with low-cost biometric technology that suits the needs of illiterate users. Using patient’s fingerprints during each scheduled dose will automatically notify providers when a dose is missed so that timely action can be taken.

We propose to strengthen health systems in Western Kenya through biometric record linkage of community members, community health extension workers and health facilities to complete the patient electronic record to improve health care delivery.

The project will optimize an electronic TB register (eTBr) to increase tuberculosis case detection and treatment success rate by 15% from the baseline in Uganda and South Sudan. The eTBr facilitates completeness and accuracy of data capture, analysis and in turn, timely reporting. Potential defaulters will receive reminder SMS.

Tuberculosis is second only to HIV/AIDS as the greatest killer worldwide due to a single infectious agent. High HIV related case loads, complex diagnosis and weak health systems for delivering TB care hamper efforts to reduce the global burden of this disease. We develop and implement the ledger shredder to improve TB surveillance and improve care. Follow Judy Gichoya on Twitter @judywawira"

Mobile telephone diagnostic tests application for tuberculosis suspects, Nyanza Province, Kenya’, is a collaborative effort by KEMRI and Grand Challenges Canadian (GCC) to promptly and increase TB case detection and reduce TB related mortality. The idea uses a mobile telephone application to assess the possibility of TB infection.

Tuberculosis (TB) is rampant inTanzania and the detection rate is low (50%). People who potentially have TB tend to go to pharmacies to purchase antibiotics before getting a proper diagnosis. A training and referral system from pharmacies to facility-based diagnostic/treatment centres will increase early detection rates and reduce transmission by shortening the diagnosis delay.

Multidrug-resistant tuberculosis and TB with HIV require long and costly treatment.  These innovators will modify an injectable TB vaccine into a convenient ,once-daily pill to be taken together with TB drugs -- a simple, affordable approach to help tackle the enormous TB burden in developing countries  As an adjunct to TB chemotherapy, this approach can dramatically reduce TB treatment duration.

Immunoxel, multiherbal immune supplement in honey lozenge, produces sputum clearance in over 85% TB patients in one month. Our immunotherapy is affordable and when used as an adjunct to TB chemotherapy can reduce treatment duration by at least 6-fold.