Triage Test for Tuberculosis Spots Infections Within an Hour

An early-stage, blood-based assay shows potential as a method for sorting patients with suspected TB from those with other respiratory illnesses.

Written byRuth Williams

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Measuring a particular set of proteins in the blood can distinguish patients with active tuberculosis infections from those with similar respiratory symptoms, according to a report in Science Translational Medicine today (October 23). The accuracy of the test, which delivers results in under an hour, comes close to that recommended by the World Health Organization for an until-now elusive TB triage test.

“This is an interesting study that has been well performed,” epidemiologist Alberto García-Basteiro of the Barcelona Institute for Global Health who was not involved in the project writes in an email to The Scientist. “Although not yet tested as a point-of-care test, this assay has the potential to become [one],” he adds.

“We definitely need non-sputum based TB tests, and a triage test will be helpful,” says epidemiologist and TB specialist Madhukar Pai of McGill University, writing in an email to The Scientist. Pai ...

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Meet the Author

Ruth Williams
Ruth is a freelance journalist. Before freelancing, Ruth was a news editor for the Journal of Cell Biology in New York and an assistant editor for Nature Reviews Neuroscience in London. Prior to that, she was a bona fide pipette-wielding, test tube–shaking, lab coat–shirking research scientist. She has a PhD in genetics from King’s College London, and was a postdoc in stem cell biology at Imperial College London. Today she lives and writes in Connecticut.
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