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Source: http://www.nature.com/news/2010/100901/full/news.2010.444.html
Published online 1 September 2010 | Nature | doi:10.1038/news.2010.444
Superfast TB test slashes waiting time
Infection with tuberculosis can be diagnosed easily and accurately in less than two hours.
Apoorva Mandavilli
TB bacteriaThe new test not only identifies TB in 98% of cases, but also detects resistance to rifampicin, a first-line TB drug.KWANGSHIN KIM / SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY
A new test can accurately diagnose tuberculosis (TB) in people in 90 minutes, compared with the six weeks needed for the current standard test.
The Xpert MTB/RIF test, described today in the New England Journal of Medicine1, identifies TB in 98% of active cases ? an improvement of more than 45% on one of the most commonly used current techniques. It also detects whether the TB-causing bacteria are resistant to rifampicin, a first-line drug for TB, in nearly 98% of cases.
"It has the potential to be revolutionary," says Richard Chaisson, director of the Johns Hopkins Center for Tuberculosis Research in Baltimore, Maryland, who was not involved with the work...
Published online 1 September 2010 | Nature | doi:10.1038/news.2010.444
Superfast TB test slashes waiting time
Infection with tuberculosis can be diagnosed easily and accurately in less than two hours.
Apoorva Mandavilli
TB bacteriaThe new test not only identifies TB in 98% of cases, but also detects resistance to rifampicin, a first-line TB drug.KWANGSHIN KIM / SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY
A new test can accurately diagnose tuberculosis (TB) in people in 90 minutes, compared with the six weeks needed for the current standard test.
The Xpert MTB/RIF test, described today in the New England Journal of Medicine1, identifies TB in 98% of active cases ? an improvement of more than 45% on one of the most commonly used current techniques. It also detects whether the TB-causing bacteria are resistant to rifampicin, a first-line drug for TB, in nearly 98% of cases.
"It has the potential to be revolutionary," says Richard Chaisson, director of the Johns Hopkins Center for Tuberculosis Research in Baltimore, Maryland, who was not involved with the work...