Improvements in TB Testing.

The study, by researchers from Imperial College London and the University of Oxford, shows that doctors can determine that a patient does not have tuberculosis with 99% accuracy when using the new blood test, ELISpot-Plus, in conjunction with a skin test known as tuberculin skin testing, already in use. The new study showed that ELISpot-Plus alone was accurately able to determine TB infection in 89% of cases and tuberculin skin testing alone was able to determine TB infection in 79% of cases. However, using both tests together was able to rule out TB infection with an accuracy of 99%.
This would lead to much better evaluatioof TB status than Chest X-rays and be particularly useful for screening iimmigrants, Professor Ajit Lalvani, from the National Heart and Lung Institute at Imperial College London, who led the study team, said: "Our new test could revolutionise the way we manage people with suspected TB."