An affordable and readily available diagnostic kit, likely to be priced between Rs 90 and Rs 180, was launched here today to deal with 'celiac disease' which affects about one per cent of the country's population.
The disease, leading to damage of inner lining of small intestine, is usually associated with weight loss, failure to gain weight, prolonged diarrhoea, abdominal fullness and anaemia because of non-absorption of food.
The disease continues till the person keeps taking gluten containing food present in cereals such as wheat and barley.
People suffering from a special genetic characteristic are known to be prone to the disease.
Presently, the diagnostic kits are imported from Europe and the US. The commercial launch of the indigenous kit would bring down the cost of the test to a range of Rs 90 to Rs 180 as against Rs 500 and above incurred by a patient at present.
The kit has been jointly developed under a collaborative programme between Translational Health Science and Technology Institute Gurgaon, International Centre for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology, New Delhi and All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) with an industrial partner J Mitra and Co.
The programme was sponsored by the Department of Biotechnology.
Launching the kit, Science and Technology Minister Jitendra Singh stressed on making the kit more "affordable to the masses as the prevalence rate about the disease is not as low is being made out to be".
"The kits are affordable, rapid, sensitive and specific to identify celiac disease which helps quicker therapeutic interventions," a presentation made during the launch said.
