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Rapid and Accurate Tuberculosis Diagnosis in Resource Poor Rural Areas

Thursday, 18 September 2014 at 09:30

Add to Calendar ▼2014-09-18 09:30:002014-09-18 10:30:00Europe/LondonRapid and Accurate Tuberculosis Diagnosis in Resource Poor Rural AreasPoint-of-Care Diagnostics World Congress in San Diego, California, USASan Diego, California, USASELECTBIOenquiries@selectbiosciences.com

Despite the recent technological advancements in TB diagnosis, the logistical challenges of health care in developing countries, where TB is most prevalent and also most under-treated, has to be recognized. It is necessary to develop methods and technologies to identify TB, as wells as MDR  and XDR TB strains. The technology must be readily applicable to point-of-care situations, it must be affordable and cannot require an advanced level of skill or laboratory settings.    The smear negative culture positive group is of interest in a country like South Africa where HIV co-infection leads to paucibacillary. In these individuals, the sensitivity of smear microscopy, the most widely used technique at primary health care levels, is reduced. The development of a diagnostic system that is affordable (< than 4$ per assay), rapid (< than 1 hour), mobile and highly accurate will be discussed. The  lysis efficiency of the developed system, in combination with a multiplex PCR protocol, resulted in an improved sensitivity of 99% for smear positive and 94% for smear negative cases. This diagnostic system is being evaluated by the National Health Laboratory System and in a mining hospital in South Africa and results of these studies will be presented.