New Diagnostic for Tuberculosis

A new method of diagnosing active tuberculosis (TB) is based on the characteristic growth pattern of Mycobacterium grown in a special liquid medium and viewed using an inverted light microscope.

Using the new method, the bacteria can be identified in days, unlike traditional culture methods, which can take up to six weeks. The test, called microscopic observation drug susceptibility (MODS), provides a rapid, inexpensive way to detect TB in resource-poor developing countries. The addition of drugs to the liquid media provides a way to identify the drugs needed to treat the disease, especially important because of the emergence of multi-drug-resistant strains of the disease.

The new test was developed by Dr. David Moore of the Imperial College London (UK), who received a Medical Futures Innovation Award for his work from colleagues at the UK Department of Health. They selected his work over 1,200 other entries because of its simplicity and huge potential to have a global impact, because it will help reduce 350 needless deaths in England from TB, because it is quick, and because it can predict drug susceptibility and the right treatment.

"Nearly two million people in the world are dying needlessly from TB, largely because of inadequate diagnostic resources,” noted Dr. Moore, who is a senior lecturer in infectious diseases at the Hammersmith Hospitals in London (UK). "This is a tragedy because the disease is completely curable.” Dr. Moore's method is currently being developed in Lima, Peru.






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Imperial College London