Current use and acceptability of novel diagnostic tests for active tuberculosis: a worldwide survey

Abstract

Objective:To determine the current use and potential acceptance (by tuberculosis experts worldwide) of novel rapid tests for the diagnosis of tuberculosis that are in line with World Health Organization target product profiles. Methods:A multilingual survey was disseminated online between July and November of 2016. Results:A total of 723 individuals from 114 countries responded to the survey. Smear microscopy was the most commonly used rapid tuberculosis test (available to 90.9% of the respondents), followed by molecular assays (available to 70.7%). Only a small proportion of the respondents in middle- and low-income countries had access to interferon-gamma-release assays. Serological and lateral flow immunoassays were used by more than a quarter (25.4%) of the respondents. Among the respondents who had access to molecular tests, 46.7% were using the Xpert assay overall, that proportion being higher in lower middle-income countries (55.6%) and low-income countries (76.6%). The data also suggest that there was some alignment of pricing for molecular assays. Respondents stated they would accept novel rapid tuberculosis tests if available, including molecular assays (acceptable to 86.0%) or biomarker-based serological assays (acceptable to 81.7%). Simple biomarker-based assays were more commonly deemed acceptable in middle- and low-income countries. Conclusions:Second-generation molecular assays have become more widely available in high- and low-resource settings. However, the development of novel rapid tuberculosis tests continues to be considered important by tuberculosis experts. Our data also underscore the need for additional training and education of end users.

Aspectos clínicos e epidemiológicos da tuberculose em pacientes com HIV/aids

“…Acredita-se que a subutilização desse método se deve as difíceis condições de isolamento do agente e a própria demora na realização do procedimento. Apesar de essa metodologia ser considerada o "gold-standard" para diagnóstico e seguimento das infecções micobacterianas, seu processamento pode requerer até 60 dias para obtenção de um resultado definitivo 26 .…”

LIOFeron®TB/LTBI: A novel and reliable test for LTBI and tuberculosis

“…Thus, urgent action is required to improve the diagnosis of both active TB and latent infection in order to set-up new screening tests for MTB that can be used for public health to detect and treat individuals who are at high risk of developing active TB (World Health Organization, 2018;Amicosante et al, 2017).…”

Prospective evaluation of host biomarkers other than interferon gamma in QuantiFERON Plus supernatants as candidates for the diagnosis of tuberculosis in symptomatic individuals

“…An estimated 10.4 million people were reported to have fallen ill with tuberculosis (TB), and another 1.6 million died of the disease in 2017. 1 The currently existing diagnostic tests have several widely publicised limitations 2,3 including poor sensitivity (smear microscopy), 4 long turnaround times and high costs (culture). 5 The between latently infected individuals and those with active TB, 8,9 they are not recommended for diagnosis of active TB in high burden settings, due to the high prevalence of LTBI.…”