WHO endorses new test for detecting TB in less than 2 hours
December 12th, 2010 - 2:56 pm ICT by ANIWashington, Dec 12 (ANI): Dr. David Alland, chief of the Division of Infectious Disease at UMDNJ-New Jersey Medical School, is the driving force behind the rapid tuberculosis test that received World Health Organization endorsement this week.
The test, which uses DNA technology to diagnose tuberculosis in less than two hours, will be widely distributed to countries around the world.
WHO says the new test “represents new hope for the millions of people who are at the highest risk of TB and drug-resistant disease.”
The testing technology that it replaces, which is 125 years old, is far less reliable and requires three months to produce a diagnosis.
The quicker and more accurate diagnoses produced by Dr. Alland’s test will allow healthcare providers to begin tuberculosis treatment far sooner, sharply reducing the risk that infected individuals will spread the disease to others.
It also will lead to more effective treatment of individual patients by telling clinicians whether disease-causing bacteria are drug-resistant.
Dr. Alland began work on the screening test, which is called Xpert MTB/RIF (Mycobacterium tuberculosis/resistance to rifampin), more than a decade ago.
The test took four years to develop, followed by the process of attracting funding to refine and manufacture it and then conducting the clinical trials that established its effectiveness. (ANI)
- New test top diagnoseTB proves effective, convenient - Sep 02, 2010
- Novel TB test may provide results quickly, efficiently - May 08, 2009
- 90-minute TB test not a game changer for India - Aug 29, 2011
- 'Urgent measures needed to control drug resistant TB' - Mar 23, 2012
- New vaccine strategy tested in mice shows promise against TB - Jan 26, 2011
- New dual recognition mechanism found in TB - Sep 10, 2010
- Gonorrhea cure gets tough as bug grows drug resistant - Nov 08, 2011
- China reports 900,000 TB cases in 2011 - Mar 21, 2012
- Study sheds light on metabolic vulnerability in TB and potential drug target - May 11, 2010
- Central team to probe drug resistant TB cases in Mumbai - Jan 17, 2012
- No drug-resistant TB case in India: Expert team - Jan 20, 2012
- Modified bone drug kills malaria parasite - Feb 28, 2012
- 'Time to scale up work on TB control' - Jan 24, 2012
- Study shows experimental immune-boosting drug worsens TB in mice - Apr 13, 2010
- Meet Bulgam Bhai - here to fight TB! - Feb 15, 2012
Tags: alland, clinicians, countries around the world, disease causing bacteria, dna technology, dr david, driving force, healthcare providers, infectious disease, jersey medical school, new jersey medical, new jersey medical school, new test, rifampin, screening test, testing technology, tuberculosis test, tuberculosis treatment, umdnj, world health organization