Researchers from the South African Tuberculosis Vaccine Initiative at the University of Cape Town, the Aurum Institute, the Centre for the AIDS Programme of Research in South Africa, Stellenbosch University, the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center have published the results from a study of a blood-based RNA biomarker which tested diagnostic and prognostic performance for tuberculosis (TB) in people living with HIV in The Lancet Global Health journal.
This publication advances the development of a point-of care blood test with which health practitioners could accurately identify people at risk of TB disease, who would then require confirmatory diagnostic testing and treatment, or others who are likely to progress from M. tuberculosis infection to active TB disease and make it possible to apply available TB preventive antibiotic regimens selectively to those who are most likely to benefit in communities.