CRISPR test

 CRISPR test can detect tuberculosis in 15 minutes using throat swabs.

American scientists have developed a new test to detect the world's most dangerous infectious disease. According to current estimates, 40% of new tuberculosis cases go undetected. However, this new discovery is expected to help detect tuberculosis much earlier.

Tests to detect tuberculosis must be simple, painless, and available to everyone. Only then can we reach more people in countries with high tuberculosis rates. Although about 10 million people are infected with tuberculosis each year, about 4 million do not know that they have the disease. Researchers at Tulane University have developed a new test using a gene editing technology called CRISPR to simplify the diagnosis of tuberculosis.

The CRISPR test increases the possibility of detecting genetic traces of the DNA of tuberculosis bacteria.  The test helps detect signs in samples such as stool, cerebrospinal fluid, and tongue secretions, which contain very low levels of the pathogen.

These samples are particularly attractive because the commonly used sputum test is ineffective in 90% of asymptomatic patients. With the help of CRISPR, these samples can be used to detect tuberculosis more accurately.

The test was mainly performed by collecting secretions from the tongue. It is painless and easy to collect. It does not require highly qualified medical staff, the researchers explained.

Compared to other tests using secretions from the tongue, the accuracy of this new test is 74%, while the accuracy of other tests was only 56%. When testing stool in children, it was found to be 83% accurate, and when testing cerebrospinal fluid, it was 93%. Scientists said that the tuberculosis test using secretions from the tongue can give a positive result within 15 minutes.

 Further tests are underway to improve accuracy. The researchers hope that this new approach will simplify TB diagnosis and help detect the disease in its early stages through routine screenings.

Earlier, some other scientists had developed a new method for TB diagnosis by combining ultrasound and artificial intelligence (AI). The accuracy of the diagnosis using this method was found to be higher than that of the diagnosis made by doctors.