A research team, led by Bangladeshi origin US scientist Dr Rushdy Ahmad, has figured out a new easy and quick way to detect tuberculosis (TB).
“The fast, ultrasensitive, multiplexed blood-based TB triage test that analyses a “signature” of the combined levels of four proteins and an anti-TB antibody in blood samples to identify patients who are likely to have ATB and require advanced diagnostics and treatment,” read a report on the research Harvard education news website.
The report, created by the Broad Institute of Harvard University and MIT’s research team, also said the test can be configured into a point-of-care test that costs only $2 and gives results in about 30 minutes.
There are more than 10 million people across the globe those who carry active tuberculosis (ATB), and every year more than a million die from it, the report further said.
And, majority of patients live in low-resource countries where TB diagnosis is expensive and challenging.
Besides, tests of TB also require expensive lab equipment that is frequently not available in those countries.
To address the condition, the new research could be a blessing for patients to save lives in the low-resource countries, and for others too.
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