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Superfast TB Test Slashes Waiting Time
from Nature News
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 Wednesday in the New England Journal of Medicine, 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. A single test can also diagnose TB in 72% of those infected with both HIV and TB, which the current standard smear cannot do at all.
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