Bangkok--28 Mar--TCELS
TCELS is sending PTSD gene to be analyzed in Japan this June 1st and is expecting that by year end it would bepossible to predict who is PTSD prone and so the person can seek early protective measures. As the world is currently fighting hard against the disease resulting from natural disasters and wars and as Thailand has the largest database on this, the data will be shared to the whole world.
Kamchorn Balangura, Vice President of Thailand Center of Excellence for Life Sciences (TCELS), said that many Thais are facing with post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) due natural disasters and unrest in the South and as well as in Bangkok. Not only is this happening in Thailand, the other parts of the world are also of high concern. Countries like the United States of America and the United Kingdom have found out that many of their soldiers from the war with Iraq are reported with PTSD. This has raised attention of the whole world to seriously study PTSD and seek for ways to prevent it.
“Thailand is lucky to be able to collect the genes from more than 3,000 PTSD patients and family members related to tsunami in the 6 southern provinces on December 26, 2004. The sample size is large enough to analyze and confirm whether the disease is related to genetic set up of a person. On June 1st this year, Thai researcher, with the support from TCELS, will take these genes and do final analysis at the Japan Human Genomic Center. We expect this within the end of this year we can be sure whether PTSD is related to genes or not. If successful, this will not only be the success of Asian but of the whole world,” Kamchorn added. Thailand can share this success to the world as the model to analyze and eventually prevent PTSD in the earlier phase.
Dr. Nuntika Thavichachart, MD., a psychiatrist from Chulalongkorn University who is involved in the study of mental impact and genetic factor of PTSD due to tsunami, said that she and her team had visited PTSD patients at Pang-nga and found out that some patients still show signs of depression even at 2 years after the disaster. This raises our concern; not only for tsunami victims but for also for the growing number of victims from other disasters and unrests in Thailand. It is a very good opportunity that we can achieve the collaboration with the Japanese institute to analyze the gene for relation with the disease so that we can find preventive measures to avoid PTSD. This can be educating and close monitoring of the family member who is PTSD prone or maybe treating that person with the yet-to-be-developed medicine.
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