A new blood test has been developed to detect tuberculosis in children.
A new proof-of-concept study has found the test, TAM-TB assay, which is the first reliable immunodiagnostic assay to detect active tuberculosis in children, and is a major advance for the diagnosis of tuberculosis, particularly in tuberculosis-endemic regions. he new blood test, which provides a fast and accurate tool to diagnose tuberculosis in children, is a sputum-independent blood test and makes use of an immunological phenomenon during tuberculosis disease.
Tuberculosis is a serious public health problem especially in low-resource countries and about 1 million children per year develop tuberculosis worldwide.
The study was published in Lancet Infectious Diseases.
