New Delhi. Now with the help of an easy and rapid blood test, Tuberculosis (TB) in children can be detected accurately. This has been revealed by the findings of a study conducted in five countries including India. According to researchers, every year around 2,40,000 children worldwide die from tuberculosis. This disease is also included in the 10 leading causes of death of children under five years of age.
Researchers said that the main cause of deaths from tuberculosis is often the disease not being detected or not being diagnosed in time, especially in areas where resources are very limited. This new test has been described in 'The Lancet Infectious Disease Journal', which represents an important achievement in the diagnosis of tuberculosis. This study has been done on a large scale in five countries. Tuberculosis is usually diagnosed based on microbiological analysis of mucus produced in the lower airways, however, such samples are difficult to obtain from children. Laura Olbrich, a researcher at the Germany-based Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich, said, "Therefore, there is an urgent need for a new test." Olbrich said that the specialty of this test is that a blood sample can be taken only from your finger and its Results come very quickly. “We get the results within just an hour,” he said. While other tests involve sending samples to other laboratories for analysis.' The researchers conducted the investigation as part of the 'RAPAED-TB' tuberculosis study, led by researcher Norbert Heinrich of LMU University Hospital, Munich. . The study was conducted with the help of partners in South Africa, Mozambique, Tanzania, Malawi and India.
The study included a total of 975 children under the age of 15 who were suspected of having tuberculosis. To find out the accuracy of this test, researchers tried to detect whether children have TB or not through a standardized reference test. This investigation was done on the basis of sputum analysis and bacterial trend.
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