A new blood analysis for tuberculosis diagnosis and follow-up treatment

A research team in the United States has developed a new blood analysis in order to detect tuberculosis infection, and to follow the progression of the disease during treatment.

The new analysis is based on the discovery of parts of the DNA of the bacteria that cause tuberculosis in the bloodstream, which helps in discovering the disease and following up on the patient's response to treatment, according to the study reported by the scientific journal "The Lancet Microbe".

The World Health Organization indicates that tuberculosis is the second most deadly infectious disease in the world after the emerging corona virus, and in 2020, tuberculosis transmitted to about ten million people and caused the death of 1.5 million people.

Most of the analyzes used to detect tuberculosis depend on the analysis of the mucous substance inside the lung, but sometimes it is not possible to withdraw a sample of mucus from patients suspected of having tuberculosis, especially if they are children, and sometimes it is difficult to diagnose tuberculosis in AIDS patients who suffer from Weakened immunity, as tuberculosis infection spreads from the lung to other parts of the body.

And the website "Medical Express", which specializes in medical sciences, quoted researcher Tony Ho from Tulane University in Louisiana, USA, as saying that all of these factors may lead to false results on tuberculosis tests.

"Hu" stressed that the new analysis can "change the rules of the game" for the diagnosis of tuberculosis, as it not only gives more accurate results, but also helps in predicting the possibilities of disease development in the future and monitoring the patient's response to treatment.

He added that the new analysis "can help doctors in the rapid intervention to treat tuberculosis and reduce the risk of death, especially for children infected with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) that causes AIDS."