Rapid Point-of-care Test Shows Promise For Detecting Latent Tuberculosis

Tuberculosis remains 1 of nan world's deadliest infectious diseases. To trim nan number of caller cases, infected individuals pinch latent infection must beryllium detected and offered preventive curen to debar progressive tuberculosis, which tin dispersed nan illness to others.

Currently, latent tuberculosis is often diagnosed utilizing a laboratory trial called QuantiFERON-TB Gold Plus. This trial involves respective steps and tin return 1 to 2 days earlier nan results are available, arsenic good arsenic requiring precocious laboratory infrastructure and trained personnel. This makes it difficult to transportation retired tests successful areas pinch a precocious prevalence of tuberculosis wherever entree to laboratories and trained unit is limited.

In nan caller study, researchers from Karolinska Institutet successful Sweden, together pinch colleagues successful Vietnam, person truthful compared this trial pinch different test, TB-Feron. This is simply a point-of-care trial that provides results wrong 15 minutes and does not require an precocious laboratory aliases trained personnel.

The study included 345 big participants successful Hanoi, Vietnam, divided into 3 groups: group pinch confirmed tuberculosis, group successful nan aforesaid family arsenic group pinch infectious tuberculosis, and group pinch nary known vulnerability to tuberculosis. All were tested pinch some TB-Feron and nan established laboratory trial QuantiFERON-TB Gold Plus.

The results show that TB-Feron has precocious sensitivity - 88 percent of individuals pinch expected affirmative results were correctly identified. The corresponding fig for QuantiFERON-TB Gold Plus was 92 percent.

However, nan specificity, i.e. TB-Feron's expertise to norm retired tuberculosis infection successful patient individuals, was mean astatine 70 percent. The corresponding fig for QuantiFERON-TB Gold Plus was 96 percent.

Among family contacts, nan concordance betwixt TB-Feron and nan established trial was good, pinch 92 percent concordance for affirmative samples.

The researchers besides investigated nan reliability of TB-Feron by comparing results from 2 different groups pinch laboratory staff. No systematic differences were observed, indicating bully reproducibility.

"This trial tin thief much group pinch latent tuberculosis to beryllium detected and person preventive treatment, particularly successful agrarian areas successful countries pinch constricted resources," says past writer Lina Davies Forsman, a interrogator astatine nan aforesaid department.

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