Are oral swabs the future of TB testing?

The World Health Organization estimates that every year 40% of people who fall ill with TB globally are not diagnosed. There is thus an urgent need for faster, safe, and more convenient TB tests. The current gold standard for testing still requires people to cough up sputum, something that some people and children, in particular, struggle with. Tiyese Jeranji looks at the potential of a new experimental oral swab TB test.

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Fingerstick blood test shows promise for TB screening

The World Health Organization estimates that over four million of the almost ten million people who fell ill with tuberculosis in 2020 were not diagnosed. One obstacle to more people being diagnosed is the fact that most current tests require people to produce sputum – something children and some people living with HIV find difficult. Tiyese Jeranji looks at a new fingerstick blood test that may help diagnose more people quicker.

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In-depth: SA at cutting edge of TB vaccine research

It is a hundred years since the BCG vaccine, the only registered vaccine proven to offer some protection against tuberculosis (TB), was first used in people. Now researchers in South Africa are at the forefront of clinical trials testing experimental new TB vaccines. Adele Baleta reports.

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Sub-clinical TB: Fascinating SA research helps push frontiers of TB science

While likely millions of people in South Africa have latent tuberculosis (TB) infection, only between three and 10% of these people ever fall ill with TB. Cutting-edge research conducted in South Africa has now taken us a significant step closer to a test that can predict who will and who will not fall ill with TB. Such a test, if simple and affordable, could potentially revolutionise TB prevention efforts.

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