Scientists have developed an innovative device capable of identifying tuberculosis (TB) DNA from exhaled air. The breakthrough offers a potential new tool for detecting the airborne disease without the need for sputum samples.
Tuberculosis, which spreads through the air, typically diagnosed by testing sputum, the mucus expelled from the lungs.
However, not all patients can produce sputum, making detection challenging in many cases.
Researchers from the Karolinska Institutet in Sweden explored whether patients exhaled genetic traces of the TB bacterium directly into the air.
Jay Achar, researcher in the Department of Global Public Health at Karolinska Institutet, stated, “It is promising that we can detect infectious tuberculosis directly in the air, especially in settings where sputum samples are difficult to obtain.”
The findings, published in ‘Open Forum Infectious Diseases’, stem from a study conducted in primary healthcare centres across South Africa. The research involved 137 adult participants diagnosed with tuberculosis.
The research team used a device called ‘TB Hotspot detectOR (THOR)’, which captures aerosols through electrostatic sampling.
Researchers analysed the collected samples using the Xpert MTB/RIF Ultra technique, the same method used for testing sputum.
Results showed that the new approach detected tuberculosis DNA in 47 per cent of individuals who had tested positive using sputum samples.
Among patients with higher bacterial loads, the detection rate rose to 57 per cent.
The study also reported a specificity of 77 per cent. This indicates the device’s ability to correctly identify individuals who do not have the disease.
Researchers noted that certain factors influenced detection rates.
Men with high bacterial counts were more likely to test positive through air samples. In contrast, those with fever were slightly less likely to show positive results.
“This is a first step towards understanding how tuberculosis is transmitted and how we can identify infectious individuals earlier,” Achar added.
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