A blood test developed by researchers at Stanford University could emerge as the easiest and cheapest way to diagnose active tuberculosis, which kills 1.5 million people every year.
They have identified a gene expression that distinguishes patients with active tuberculosis with latent tuberculosis or other diseases, according to a research paper published online in The Lancet Respiratory Medicine journal.
Tuberculosis infects 9.6 million new patients worldwide each year and kills 1.5 million. In India, two tuberculosis patients die in every three minutes. “A third of the world’s population is currently infected with TB.”
Even if only 10% of them to active TB, which is still 3% of the world population, 240 million people,” a press release issued by the University Stanford cited the role of author Purvesh Khatri as saying.
