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Cranfield University has begun research that will underpin the
development of a quick-fire TB breath test. Working in collaboration
with the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, Cranfield will
investigate techniques and technology for the rapid diagnosis of
Tuberculosis, a disease that the World Health Organisation (WHO)
estimates infects up to one-third of the world’s population.
Only a small percentage of these are sick from the contagious airborne disease, though with 9.2 million new cases in 2006, bringing the number of prevalent cases of TB to 14.4m, that is on the rise, including across Europe and the US.
Cranfield says that a lack of education about the disease and failure to take prescription medicines properly has given rise to a number of drug-resistant strains of the disease, which are proving harder to cure.
The Cranfield and London team have started research to find tools and techniques for the rapid diagnosis of TB, which they hope will help curb the spiralling rate of infection, countering existing methods of diagnosis which are time consuming, inconvenient and often subject to delay as samples are taken back to laboratories for analysis.
The project will look for volatile marker compounds present and absent in patient blood and sputum and cultures of the tuberculosis bacteria. Initial results will be collated using existing technology. When specific compounds are detected and confirmed, the team will use the results to search for the same markers given off in other volatile gases, such as breath.
The resulting data can then be programmed into existing portable devices, such as artificial noses, that can search specifically for TB. The University is also developing a unique hand-held ‘Breathotron’ which will be used to diagnose disease.
Dr Claire Turner, head of Cranfield’s Volatiles Research Group, said: “After nearly being eradicated in the developed world in the 1970s, TB is now back. Increased migration and movement of people across the world has helped accelerate this trend and a rapid breath test would be especially useful for testing people at ports, for example, as they enter and leave the country.”
Dr Ruth McNerney of the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, said: “We are in desperate need of new technologies to detect TB disease. The current frontline test that looks for the bacteria in sputum specimens using a microscope was developed over 100 years ago.
“It is labour intensive and insensitive and less than half of the 9 million new cases of TB each year are successfully diagnosed in this way.”
Dr Turner believes that eventually breath, rather than blood or urine will be the most effective, convenient and least invasive method for testing TB and other serious diseases.
“These tests should also give doctors a more accurate indication of the type of strain of TB, allowing them to prescribe the most appropriate medications, thereby helping to reduce the number of drug resistant strains.
“We have earmarked southern Africa to trial how robust our kit is, but early indications show that a lot more work needs to be done first to find these important compounds. We are seeking further collaboration from other interested parties to help us put our plans into action.”
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