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New TB test brings
tuberculosis care into 21st century
Oxford Immunotec launches revolutionary T SPOT-TB blood test
12th August 2004. At a time when the World Health
Organisation has declared tuberculosis a global emergency, a
revolutionary new blood test, T SPOT-TB, has been approved for
use in Europe and gives real hope that the tide can be turned in
the fight against the disease.
Oxford Immunotec's new test is set to replace the century old
tuberculin skin test, the oldest diagnostic test still in use
today. The launch of T SPOT-TB is a key milestone in mankind's
fight against this ancient disease and will bring TB care out of
the Victorian era and into the 21st century.
T SPOT-TB enables doctors to reliably screen people who have
been in contact with a TB sufferer, allowing those who have been
infected to be identified and treated long before they actually
develop the disease and become infectious to others.1,2 It
provides an accurate and effective tool for controlling the
spread of TB.3
The T SPOT-TB blood test is easy, rapid and accurate. Crucially,
it is the first test that reliably detects infection in people
with weak immune systems,4 including new-born babies,5 people
with HIV6 and transplant patients, precisely the people who are
most vulnerable to developing full-blown TB.
T SPOT-TB represents a dramatic improvement on the existing skin
test, which is crude and unreliable. The skin test is prone to
both false-positive and false-negative results and previous BCG
vaccination makes it inconsistent. It is also inconvenient,
taking 3 to 7 days before it can be read, and it can cause
painful blistering and scarring of the skin.
Welcoming this exciting development, Paul Sommerfeld, Chair of
TB Alert said, "The importance of having access to accurate
and reliable diagnosis cannot be overstated. Accurate testing is
vital for effective disease control, especially with the threat
of multi-drug resistant TB and the recent increase in incidence
of the disease hanging over us."
"The tools we use to diagnose TB are 50-100 years old; this
disease has been neglected for decades. I am pleased that we
have finally brought the benefits of modern scientific research
to the front-line to fight this age-old disease", commented
Dr Ajit Lalvani of Oxford University, the scientist who has led
the development of the test over the last 10 years." In
contrast to the crude and inaccurate skin test, the new blood
test is fast, accurate and convenient. It is a 100-year upgrade
for diagnosing TB and I believe it will significantly improve
the way we
manage tuberculosis."
T SPOT(TM) works in a unique way. Whereas conventional
diagnostic tests rely on detecting antibodies induced by an
infection, such antibodies are not generated by TB infection.
However, TB infection induces a strong response by immune cells
in the blood called T-cells. It is these T-cells, in a small
blood sample, that are detected by T SPOT-TB, which literally
counts them as spots on a test plate. T SPOT-TB has already been
proven in 16 clinical studies, involving over 4,000 people in 11
different countries.
TB is currently out of control, causing three million deaths
each year, more than any other infectious disease. In recent
years, TB has resurged in Europe and, last week, the British
Thoracic Society, British Lung Foundation and TB Alert
highlighted the relentless increase in TB over the last 15 years
in the UK.7 During this time, the number of TB cases in London
has doubled and it is feared that the capital is on the brink of
an epidemic. T SPOT-TB will enable more people to be diagnosed
and treated while their infection is still dormant thus
preventing them from developing full-blown tuberculosis which is
highly contagious. T SPOT-TB is thus a powerful new tool to help
health authorities curb and control the TB epidemic.
(13/8/04)
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