Predict TB

In humans, tuberculosis (TB) is caused by M. tuberculosis (Mtb) and can affect any part of the body although effects on the lungs are the most prominent. It has a mortality rate of 95% in developing countries where it is prevalent. As many as 80% of people in some areas of African and Asian countries test positive for TB.

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TB diagnosis is challenging, especially in developing countries or isolated villages, as its detection is often based on such as sputum PCR that cannot be easily done outside of a laboratory setting. As a result, samples need to be sent to the closest facility with capacity to analyse them and send results back and this process can sometimes take a long time. This, along with poorly performing laboratory tests, also leads the clinicians to make false-positive or false-negative treatment  decisions, exacerbating the development of drug-resistance (in both Mtb and other bacteria) and missing true diagnoses of TB or other diseases, leading to significant health provider and patient catastrophic costs.

 

The detection of biochemical changes in urine linked to TB could be used to develop a point-of-care test such as a lateral flow test. This would make diagnosis easier especially in those places with no capacity for laboratory tests and also inform upon disease severity (and hence treatment duration).

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This collaborative study undertaken in partnership with Stellenbosch University is identifying key changes in patients with TB from Cape Province South Africa.

 

Working together we aim to develop new tests that can allow the detection and management TB