It is unclear exactly what they are talking about when they say ...
"WHO said a new diagnostic test able to provide results within a day is being tried in South Africa and Lesotho. If successful, the test could be introduced across Africa in a few months, though new labs would be needed to run the tests."
I can only make a couple of observations.
It would be nigh on impossible to differentiate "regular" TB from MDRTB while it is in the latent stage (this is the prime market for QFTG)
It might be possible to differentiate between "regular" and MDRTB in the active stage by methods other than currently used. To my understanding the current method is to culture the bug then try the various anti-biotics on it to see which ones do and don't kill it. This process takes several weeks. If there was a method that could do it in "one day" then it would have to rely upon some sort of DNA analysis of the bug. I am not aware of any such test that is anywhere near being introduced "in a few months".
I therefore conclude that they are actually talking about a general diagnostic for TB ("regular", MDRTB and XDRTB). Certainly QFTG will do this and does require laboratory resource. However, in a high incidence country such as S.Africa, they are probably more interested at this stage in a test for active TB only (QFTG detects both active and latent but does not differentiate).
So, it could be QFTG that they are talking about or it could be some other test that is for active TB only. I am not aware of any laboratory tests for active TB (only) that can be done in 1 day and are ready for "prime time". (I could be wrong though).
CST Price at posting:
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