According to an article in the medical journal The Lancet, the new test called Xpert MTB / RIF can detect Koch’s bacillus, the bacteria responsible for tuberculosis, in less than two hours, against several weeks for the traditional method which combines microscopic observation of sputum and a chest x-ray. But, for the moment, despite these advances, the course of the disease then remains broadly the same. Another downside, this rapid test requires the use of an expensive robot which, due to lack of resources, could not be used in developing countries, there. where the number of people affected by tuberculosis is the highest.
To measure the effectiveness of the rapid test, researchers at the University of Cape Town in South Africa, subjected a group of 700 people to the rapid test and another to the usual test.
The rapid test was found to be more effective in diagnosing tuberculosis cases, finding 83% of them compared to only 50% detected through the sputum sample.
It also made it possible to start treatment more quickly, ie 52% from the first day against 35%, and to halve the number of tuberculosis patients abandoning their treatment (8% against 15%). But despite treatments initiated later and less well followed in the second group, the course of the disease was generally the same two and six months later.
Tuberculosis is an infectious disease caused by a mycobacterium, Mycobacterium tuberculosis, but often referred to as Koch’s bacillus. It causes a severe cough often accompanied by sputum, fever, severe fatigue, loss of appetite, night sweats and weight loss. Tuberculosis is treated by antibiotics or through surgery in some cases. But, diagnosed too late, it can be fatal. Every year 8 million people die from tuberculosis worldwide.