UNITE4TB webinar: Expert interview with microbiologists on tuberculosis diagnostics

TB diagnosis remains a challenge with one-third of people with TB and two-thirds of those with drug-resistant TB going undetected. TB is a preventable, treatable, and curable disease, but to meet the World Health Organization’s (WHO) global strategy to end TB[1], more investment in TB-related activities is urgently needed, including the development of new diagnostic strategies.

During this webinar, an open discussion will take place with experts in TB diagnostics. The speaker for the session is Dr. Daniela Cirillo (Milan, Italy), who will be joined by Anca Vasiliu (Houston, USA) and Antonia Morita (Yogyakarta, Indonesia).

Key topics of discussion:

• Diagnosis of TB disease and infection: WHO-approved diagnostics
• Algorithms for TB diagnosis for different settings
• Selection of appropriate diagnostic platforms
• Role of next-generation sequencing (NGS)
• Strategy for the adoption of NGS at the country level for diagnosis of drug-resistant TB and surveillance
• Future of TB diagnosis: Alternative to sputum, lessons learned from COVID diagnostics

Key learnings:

• An understanding of the strengths and limitations of available diagnostics for TB
• Knowledge of the process of WHO endorsement
• Insight into the possibilities and gaps in the implementation of molecular diagnostics based on next-generation sequencing

Organized by consortium partners, Instituto de Saude Publica da Universidade do Porto (ISPUP) and the European Respiratory Society (ERS), registration is free via the ERS website and open to all. For non-ERS-members, all that is needed is to create a free myERS profile in order to register for the webinar.

[1] Implementing the end TB strategy: the essentials. Geneva: World Health Organization, 2015. https://apps.who.int/iris/rest/bitstreams/916192/retrieve