Experts: World TB Day 2016 (March 24)

World TB Day is held each year on March 24th and aims to build public awareness for tuberculosis. A disease which despite being curable, remains a destructive epidemic in much of the world.

The International TB Centre at McGill University includes investigators with expertise spanning from basic biomedical research to clinical, epidemiological and social determinants of health.  The Centre aims to develop and evaluate new diagnostic tests, new vaccines and new treatment regimens for the control of TB and other mycobacterial diseases.

The group’s latest research published in the journal PLOS ONE, reports that using technology called GeneXpert leads to more rapid and sensitive TB diagnosis and is expected to move up treatment for people with pulmonary TB. TB is a major problem in many Northern communities.

Kevin Schwartzman, Professor of Medicine; Director, Respiratory Division, McGill University and McGill University Health Centre

“Our findings imply that this technology, while initially expensive to buy, can be used in Arctic communities to achieve important health gains and cost savings in the long run.  It can reduce dependence on results of tests where specimens must be flown South for analysis, with the attendant waiting times”.—Kevin Schwartzman

Prof. Schwartzman research focuses on the clinical and economic evaluation of interventions in tuberculosis and other respiratory diseases in addition to research on the local epidemiology of tuberculosis in Montreal, including spatial and geographic aspects.

kevin [dot] schwartzman [at] mcgill [dot] ca (English, French)

Marcel A. Behr, Director, McGill International TB Centre, Microbiologist-in-Chief, McGill University Health Centre

Epidemiology and pathogenesis of mycobacterial infections, specifically M. tuberculosis (the cause of TB).

marcel [dot] behr [at] mcgill [dot] ca (English, French)

Dick Menzies, Associate director, McGill International TB Centre; RECRU/ Montreal Chest Institute

Tuberculosis - clinical studies of new diagnostic tests, long-term outcome, side effects of therapy, and compliance with therapy.

dick [dot] menzies [at] mcgill [dot] ca (English, French)