bioMérieux's offer for diagnosing tuberculosis
bioMérieux offers a range of solutions for the detection, identification and susceptibility testing of Mycobacterium tuberculosis, the bacterium responsible for tuberculosis.
Culturing Mycobacterium tuberculosis is a lengthy process, requiring several weeks on traditional, solid media. In recent years, the development of liquid culture media used in conjunction with automated systems such as the BacT/ALERT® 3D, has significantly shortened the culture time needed for detection of mycobacteria.
In addition, new diagnostic tests called IGRAs (Interferon Gamma Release Assays), such as T-SPOT®.TB, have been developed which enable more reliable detection of tuberculosis infection than with the traditional tuberculin skin test (TST). The TST lacks sensitivity, particularly in young children and the immunocompromised. IGRAs offer considerably higher specificity and sensitivity compared with TST and can therefore help to better control the reservoir of latent TB infection.
Today, ongoing R&D programs are present at bioMérieux to further improve the clinical diagnosis of tuberculosis.
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