The test offers hope at a time when TB has re-emerged as a major global health threat. Nearly one third of the world's population is infected with MTB.
Currently, eight million people develop active disease every year and TB kills an estimated 2-3 million people each year (one person every 15 seconds).
The huge toll of TB on human life prompted the World Health Organisation to declare TB a "global emergency" in 1993.
Based on the T-SPOT technology, the test was developed for diagnosing both latent and active TB infection in humans, improving on existing clinical standards of sensitivity and reliability, even in the immunocompromised.
The T-SPOT technology can directly detect individual activated effector T-cells, via their secretion of cytokines, when presented with specific antigens.
The test uses a technology known as the ELISPOT (Enzyme Linked Immunosorbent Spot) assay, which is widely recognised as the most sensitive technique to measure antigen-specific T-cell function.
The product was licensed across Europe in July 2004 and is expected to replace the current tuberculin skin test, bringing effective TB testing to many new patient groups where the skin test gives poor or indeterminate results.
The test boasts a sensitivity of 96.3 per cent and can be used in HIV, children, anti-TNF alpha, transplant, renal dialysis, malnourished and other immunocompromised patient groups, as well as in infants and in pregnancy
Immunocompromised patients are at a much higher risk of developing active TB from a latent infection as their immune system weakens.
Therefore, these populations should be screened with an effective test for latent TB so that if they are positive they can be given the appropriate treatment to eliminate the latent TB infection before reactivation occurs.
For more information on this TB test, visit Oxford Immunotec's website.