TB Research

The unsustainable anachronism of tuberculosis diagnosis

The Lancet Microbe

The Lancet Microbe · 2023-05

Abstract

When approximately 40% of people who develop tuberculosis (4·2 million of an estimated 10·6 million people, in 2021, according to WHO) are not diagnosed, how can the widespread use of sputum smear microscopy for initial diagnosis—a method developed over a century ago—still be justified?

MeSH terms

  • Tuberculosis
  • Medicine
  • Mycobacterium tuberculosis
  • Sputum
  • Tuberculosis diagnosis
  • Rifampicin
  • Intensive care medicine
  • Pediatrics
  • Immunology