First active TB test created
12 Apr 2017 by Evoluted New Media
Scientists from three American universities have developed the first rapid test to diagnose active tuberculosis cases.
Scientists from three American universities have developed the first rapid test to diagnose active tuberculosis cases.
The newly developed blood-based tuberculosis (TB) test is able to detect the disease in a number of hours compared to the usual waiting period of days, or even weeks. By measuring the presence of minute proteins – CFP-10 and ESAT-6 – it is the first test able to detect the severity of active TB.
Tony Hu, Associate Professor at Arizona State University and co-author of the study, said: “In the current frontlines of TB testing, coughed-up sputum, blood culture tests, invasive lung and lymph biopsies, or spinal taps are the only way to diagnose TB. The results can give false negatives, and these tests are further constrained because they can take days to weeks to get the results.”
Tuberculosis (TB), once called consumption, is believed to have killed a billion people over the last 2000 years. The World Health Organisation estimated in 2016 that 10m people worldwide were infected with the disease resulting in almost two million fatalities. One aspect of the disease that makes it particularly troublesome is that bacterium can lay dormant in lung tissue for years before becoming active.
With evidence of its effect on humans dating back to 8,000BC, and billions of pounds spent on international TB prevention and care, the disease still remains a major risk to human health. It particularly affects people with comprised immune systems such as those suffering from HIV. The new test shows increased sensitivity compared to current methods when detecting both lung- and non-lung TB and also TB in HIV-positive patients.
Professor Hu said: “We are particularly excited about the ability of our high-throughput assay to provide rapid quantitative results that can be used to monitor treatment effects, which will give physicians the ability to better treat worldwide TB infections. Furthermore, our technology can be used with standard clinical instruments found in hospitals worldwide."
The researchers, from universities in Arizona, Texas and Washington DC, hope this assay could be adopted for other infections - currently it is being developed for clinical approval. The study was published in the Early Edition of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
