We don't have any tuberculosis bacteria that are not hard on our hands
This is the number of cases in which suspected tuberculosis patients wererequested by the Korea Tuberculosis Association at health centers across thecountry last year.
There are notuberculosis bacteria in the country that have not gone through ourhands," said Kim Cheon-tae, president of the Tuberculosis ResearchInstitute, jokingly.
As he said, the Tuberculosis Research Institute will diagnose cases ofsuspected TB cases through double-triple verification and conduct variousresearch related to tuberculosis.
However, theenvironment for intensive research seemed to be very difficult, as governmentsupport such as the Ministry of Health and Welfare and local governments werefragmentary.
On Saturday, he visited the Tuberculosis Research Center located in Osong,Cheongju, North Chungcheong Province.
The institute consistsof a research center in charge of tuberculosis policy and basic research and adiagnostic examination medical center that examines patient conversationscommissioned by health centers nationwide.
The incubation test of researchers is more likely to determine whether or nottuberculosis has occurred than the coating test conducted at the front-linehealth center.
The incubation test isbasic, and a drug-sensitivity test will be conducted here to find out whichdrugs are effective in the eradication of tuberculosis bacteria in question.
Through real-time PCR,faint traces of tuberculosis bacteria become clearer. More than 60000 real-timePCR tests were conducted last year alone.
We are also focusingon testing non-nuclear lung tuberculosis patients these days," said HongJong-wook, head of the department of diagnostic tests.
About 70 clinical pathologists will be used for diagnostic tests alone. Due tothe high number of samples, hands for diagnostic tests are always insufficient.
Since it is located inOsong, the manpower supply is not very smooth. Although the number oftuberculosis patients has decreased compared to the past, there are stillrequests from across the country to determine whether or not tuberculosis hasoccurred and what type of tuberculosis bacteria is. Hong said he feels"completed" in fighting the tuberculosis.
◇ Difficulty concentrating research
The research center has considerable know-how in the development of diagnostic testing and drug sensitivity. However, there were many difficulties in carrying out government research projects. A researcher explains that government-led intensive research on tuberculosis cannot be conducted first. Of course, it is not without saying that it is an institution for selecting research tasks. This is because if the task is selected based on tuberculosis experts, it could be a dispute over preferential treatment.
We cannot concentratebecause the government`s research projects on tuberculosis are dispersed.
Since even the membersof the research committee on tuberculosis are not experts on tuberculosis, avicious circle of research using new technology to cover the cost of the taskwill arise.
The government,including the Ministry of Health and Welfare, also imposes conditions thatrequire 'performance,' but even if research results are produced, researchersoften question themselves whether it will be useful in clinical practice."
