WATERLOO — It only takes an inexpensive digital X-ray detector to help stamp out a disease that is killing millions of people in developing countries, an award-winning University of Waterloo researcher says.
Karim S. Karim is developing a $1,000 digital X-ray device to screen for tuberculosis, a killer disease that affects a third of the world’s population and claims 1.8-million lives annually, most of them in Asia and Africa.
Karim, who was born in Pakistan, has seen the devastation that tuberculosis can do. He vividly recalls being a child in Pakistan and seeing patients with tuberculosis cough up blood. Both of his parents were doctors, he says, and he heard about the disease a lot at home.
“Tuberculosis is something that I have seen, and it’s bad . . . . It was a big thing there. In fact, I’d say it’s more prevalent than heart disease. It’s in all ages, but the worst segment that’s affected is the young ones. It’s the biggest tragedy there.”
As a scientist, Karim made a key discovery that led him to challenge the disease.
Ismailimail 