University of Otago microbiology and immunology department researcher Dr Htin Lin Aung gave a talk yesterday entitled "Tuberculosis in Myanmar", and highlighted the global crisis caused by Tb.
An estimated 1.6million people died from Tb last year, and 10 million people fell ill with the disease.
Dr Aung, who is a Health Research Council Sir Charles Hercus Research Fellow, told the Australasian Society for Infectious Diseases conference at the Dunedin Public Art Gallery yesterday that Tb remained a stubborn problem in Myanmar, despite free treatment for the disease.
Myanmar also had high rates of drug-resistant strains of Tb.
Dr Aung has previously pointed out that some earlier traditional ways of testing for Tb by culturing the micro-organism had resulted in patients dying before their disease status could be clarified.
He was also "working very closely with the Myanmar Government" in collaborative efforts to improve the situation.
Another microbiology researcher, Veronica Playle, also gave a talk on new insights emerging from whole-genomic testing of a tuberculosis cluster in New Zealand.
A leading international tropical medicine researcher, Prof Nick Day, who directs the Mahidol Oxford Tropical Research Unit in Bangkok, Thailand, also gave a talk yesterday.
He said he believed a multi-drug treatment approach could prove fruitful for combating malaria in Africa, and treatment with a cocktail of drugs had proved effective against HIV.
Funding had been obtained and it was hoped some preliminary testing would begin soon, he said.
