News

New two-hour TB test developed

27 September 2010

A new, accurate, easy-to-use test that can diagnose tuberculosis (TB) – including drug-resistant strains of the disease – in less than two hours, has been developed. It has the potential to save thousands of lives in developing countries, where current tests are often unreliable, take weeks to process, or are simply unavailable.

The Xpert MTB/RIF test detected TB in 98 percent of active cases, according to a study by the Foundation for Innovative New Diagnostics (FIND), a non-profit organization based in Switzerland.

The test also correctly identified 98 percent of cases that were resistant to rifampin, a commonly used first-line TB drug. Resistance to rifampin indicates that a patient more than likely has multidrug-resistant TB, a growing global problem, particularly in countries with severe HIV epidemics like South Africa.

After only two or three days’ training, technicians participating in the study could insert a sample into a small cartridge and place it in an automated processor, which performed the test within two hours.

The study, published in the New England Journal of Medicine on 1 September, involved 1,730 patients with suspected TB from Peru, Azerbaijan, South Africa and India, and compared the results of smear and culture testing with the results from Xpert MTB/RIF tests.

An expert committee is meeting in Geneva to review evidence from the FIND study and other research before making a recommendation by the end of September.

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