Diagnosis of TB: From conventional to modern molecular protocols

Abstract

Tuberculosis (TB) is an infectious disease caused by different strains of Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex. TB is a curable infection if diagnosed correctly and timely. Late diagnosis and improper treatment may lead to relapse or its escalation to MDR / XDR-TB. TB with HIV co-infection is difficult to diagnose by conventional set-up. Also, detection of child TB and extrapulmonary TB has its own set of problems and is not straightforward to diagnose. The increasing complexity of TB due to the advent of new circulating strains and invasion to the regions where it was non-existent or thought to be eradicated is putting a severe strain on the health management services and making it an unmanageable pandemic. This increasing complexity has led to the spurt in the development of TB diagnostics platforms. This review focuses on the new emerging technologies that have changed the diagnostics landscape.