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Transcript/Script((PLAYBOOK SLUG: SU TUBERCULOSIS TEST
HEADLINE: African-born bioengineer at UCLA develops new tuberculosis test
TEASER: It’s promising to be a game changer in TB diagnostics
PUBLISHED AT: 05/01/2024 at 9:15am
BYLINE: Genia Dulot
CONTRIBUTOR:
DATELINE:
VIDEOGRAPHER: Genia Dulot
PRODUCER: Genia Dulot
ASSIGNING EDITOR: Mia Bush
SCRIPT EDITORS: Mia Bush, sb
VIDEO SOURCE (S): VOA
PLATFORMS (mark with X): WEB __ TV X RADIO _X_
TRT: 2:31
VID APPROVED BY: mia
TYPE: TVR EDITOR NOTES: English webdesk: pls use Student Union category))
((INTRO))
[[According to the World Health Organization 1.3 million people died from tuberculosis in 2022. This disease is fully treatable and relies on timely diagnosis. Mireille Kamariza, a molecular bioengineer from the University of California, Los Angeles, has developed a test that can detect the bacteria quickly, precisely and inexpensively. VOA’s Genia Dulot has the story.]]
((NARRATOR))
Growing up in Burundi in the 1990s, Mireille Kamariza saw people dying from tuberculosis, even though the lung disease was fully treatable. That childhood experience drove her to become a scientist.
((Mireille Kamariza, University of California, Los Angeles))
“That has been a core motivation for the work that I do in studying infectious diseases, developing diagnostics that can be implemented in places like my home country of Burundi, where we can hopefully eradicate this disease similar to how we have done in the global North.”
((NARRATOR))
Kamariza is now a molecular bioengineer at the University of California, Los Angeles.
She came up with a simple yet effective test to detect the disease that still kills more than a million people per year worldwide. This sugary powder, mixed with water and a patient’s phlegm or blood, will detect tuberculosis bacteria within hours.
((Mireille Kamariza, University of California, Los Angeles))
“The genesis of this whole project was the concept of taking something that bacteria love to ingest, sugar in this case, and then putting a biosensor on it, and then seeing if that works, and it did work, it was great.”
((NARRATOR))
Existing TB tests have drawbacks. They can take weeks, like a culture test; can register false results, like a smear test, or are expensive, like a molecular test, says UCLA life sciences dean Tracy Johnson.
((Recorded via SKYPE))
((Tracy Johnson, UCLA Life Sciences Dean))
“She [Kamariza] is focused on making that dye more specific and brighter, so that even very common microscopes that are available in places like field clinics in Uganda // (TB) can even be detected in those circumstances, and that’s really a game changer.”
((NARRATOR))
Kamariza says her test shows if the bacteria are alive or dead, which helps to determine if a person is contagious. And it quickly detects if a patient is responding to treatment.
And it will be inexpensive.
((Mireille Kamariza, University of California, Los Angeles))
“The powder that we make is very cheap to make // especially when you make it on a grand scale. It’s going to be less than $1 a test.”
((NARRATOR))
But first it has to pass a clinical trial planned in Uganda to see how well it works in the real world.
If it passes, Kamariza says the test would serve not only low-income countries around the world but also California, where the state has seen a rise of TB cases in the last year.
((Genia Dulot, VOA News, Los Angeles))
NewsML Media TopicsArts, Culture, Entertainment and Media
Subtitles / Dubbing AvailableNo
NetworkVOA
Embargo DateMay 1, 2024 10:17 EDT
BylineGenia Dulot
Brand / Language ServiceVoice of America - English, US Agency for Global Media
