title: Advances in Diagnostic Assays for Tuberculosis.
abstract: Approximately one-third of the global burden of tuberculosis (TB) remains undiagnosed each year and the vast majority of cases of multidrug-resistant TB remain undetected. Many countries still place heavy reliance on outdated technologies that are blunt and ineffective tools for controlling this epidemic. However, during the past 10 years, there has been substantial progress within the TB diagnostics developmental pipeline. Old technologies have been reviewed and improved and new technologies have been developed and evaluated and are now being implemented. This review summarizes these developments and describes the currently available diagnostic tools. Consideration is given to the requirements of future diagnostic tests and how these should be evaluated not only with regard to their diagnostic accuracy and operational feasibility, but ultimately in terms of whether they impact clinical outcomes cost effectively, especially for those most in need.
authors.affiliation: Department of Clinical Research, Faculty of Infectious and Tropical Diseases, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, London WC1E 7HT, United Kingdom The Desmond Tutu HIV Centre, Institute for Infectious Disease and Molecular Medicine, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Cape Town, Cape Town 7925, South Africa.
authors.forename: Stephen D
authors.initials: SD
authors.lastname: Lawn
mesh_terms: D006801:Humans; D059425:Interferon-gamma Release Tests; D008826:Microbial Sensitivity Tests; D008853:Microscopy; D009169:Mycobacterium tuberculosis / Q000302:isolation & purification; D021141:Nucleic Acid Amplification Techniques; D012698:Serologic Tests; D013183:Sputum / Q000382:microbiology; D014376:Tuberculosis / Q000175:diagnosis*