UK universities develop innovative TB diagnosis

Researchers from University College London and the University of Oxford have created a blood test which can determine with 99 per cent accuracy that a patient does not have TB.

ELISpot-Plus, funded by the Wellcome Trust, the Sir Halley Stewart Trust and the UK Department of Health, could be used to free up doctors' time in diagnosing the illness and when licensed will be ethically commercialised to the developing world.

Professor Ajit Lalvani, who leads the study team at the National Heart and Lung Institute of Imperial College London, said: "Our new test could revolutionise the way we manage people with suspected TB.

"Using this new system would allow us to treat patients much more quickly and effectively," he added.

Professor Lalvani leads a specially created TB Task Force at Imperial College London, set up to find ways of tackling TB that can be used on a global scale.

The task force is part of Imperial College’s Academic Health Science Centre, which aims to turn the UK’s world-leading academic research into deliverable treatments.

Professor Steve Smith, principal of the Faculty of Medicine at Imperial College said: "Our new Academic Health Science Centre integrates healthcare services with teaching and research to take the world's best research from bench to bedside – giving patients quicker access to new medical advances.”