STANFORD, Calif. (DIYA TV) — Stanford University researchers have developed a simple blood test which could be capable of streamlining the diagnosis process of tuberculosis — a disease almost as old as humanity itself. Nearly 1.5 people die of the disease each year because there isn’t a proper test to diagnose it, another 9.6 million are infected globally each year, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The researchers have discovered a gene expression which distinguishes patients with active tuberculosis against those with other diseases or latent tuberculosis. The test was published in a study last week in Lancet Respiratory Medicine, and titled: the Khatri blood test. The diagnostic power of the test was confirmed after being administered on 400 people.
“The test can be used not only for diagnosis and to inform treatment, but also to study the effectiveness of different treatments. The test’s hugely accurate negative response would be especially helpful in monitoring the effectiveness of treatments during clinical trials,” said Purvesh Khatri, an assistant professor of medicine at Stanford, and an author of the paper.
Purvesh Khatri, an author of the paper.
Khatri added the simplicity of the test will allow it to be used by any hospital in the world, even those without basic utilities.
“Any hospital should be able to perform the test. Villages without electricity could likely use ordinary blood samples and a solar-powered PCR machine, which multiplies strands of DNA, to accurately test people for active tuberculosis,” he said.
Developed in the Khatri lab, the test removes the need to collect sputum because it only requires an ordinary blood sample. It’s capable of also identifying HIV, can diagnose all strains of disease, even in the instance where a disease has evolved a resistance to antibiotic drugs, according to the study. The results of the test have been astounding, according to researchers.
“If the test comes up negative, it’s right 99 percent of the time. That is, of 100 patients who test negative with the Khatri test, 99 do not have active [tuberculosis],” researchers said.
The findings arrived at the most opportune time — in 2014, the World Health Organization called for a better diagnostic approach to tuberculosis, and was seeking a test which would yield a positive result at least 66 percent of the time when a child has an active case of bacterial disease. The Khatri blood has exceeded the 66 percent figure, researchers said it can positively identify disease-stricken children 86 percent of the time.
Khatri and his team of researchers are now working to further develop the test and prepare it for widespread use.
