Rapid blood tests used by the NHS are unable to rule out tuberculosis (TB) and should be replaced with a new, more accurate test, a study has found.
In the largest study to date of rapid TB tests used by the NHS, a team led by researchers at Imperial College London found that available tests are not sensitive enough to rule out a diagnosis of TB in suspected cases, and so have limited clinical use.
The research, published in the journal Lancet Infectious Diseases, also looked at a new second generation rapid blood test, developed at Imperial, and found it to be substantially more accurate than the existing tests.
