KNUST Buruli ulcer diagnostic tool great medical achievement
An innovative diagnostic tool set to transform the detection and treatment of Buruli ulcer, a devastating neglected tropical disease (NTD), has been developed in the country.
NTDs are said to be among diseases for which no industrial research and development (R&D) activities exist.
It is generally agreed that there is no standard global definition of neglected diseases, yet ‘neglect’ has become one of the most commonly used words to describe certain diseases primarily, if not exclusively, affecting poor populations in developing countries.
The key elements are diseases affecting principally poor people in poor countries, for which health interventions and R&D are seen as inadequate.
This implies that an individual or group(s) trying to find interventions are venturing into life-saving domains and need special or exclusive mention.
This is why The Ghanaian Times finds it elating to praise Dr Michael Frimpong, a Senior Research Fellow of the Centre for Collaborative Research in Tropical Medicine (KCCR) at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), for developing the diagnostic tool for the detection and treatment of Buruli ulcer.
The medical scientist has not only brought honour to himself but also the team that assisted him, KNUST and his beloved country, Ghana.
Hopefully, this tool will work effectively and make impact in the global medical science space and leave Dr Frimpong’s name indelibly in the treatment and even the prevention and eradication of Buruli ulcer.
For its life-shattering nature, the disease must be conquered to bring some relief to the places where it is endemic.
Buruli ulcer is a chronic debilitating skin disease, caused by a bacterium that multiplies in skins and reported in 33 tropical African countries, including Ghana.
It can lead to permanent disfigurement and long-term disability.
Studies have shown that most Buruli ulcer patients develop various disabilities and horrible scars that lead to limited eye closure, limited extension and flexion of muscles, limited knee extension and foot dorsiflexion, and the deviation of the hand and foot, among other health challenges.
These challenges are said to also affect the patients psychologically and socially.
Imagine that the disease can cause disabilities such as visual impairment and psychological effects due to facial scars and others on the head and neck.
What is worst is that the patient can be incapacitated in almost all aspects of life, even in formal education, especially when the victim is a child.
This means in the case of children, since the disease is classified among NTDs, families would have to contend with the debilitating burden of caring for their young members for as long as they live.
Therefore, notwithstanding the fact that Ghana records a few hundreds of cases each year, having as many as 50 per cent of the patients being children younger than 15 years must elicit enough support for Dr Frimpong for his ground-breaking tool, which is likely to transform any available treatment support.
Since diseases, especially the neglected ones, are inhibitors of both individual and community or national development, we urge medical scientists to increase their efforts in conquering these enemies of progress.