An update on the diagnosis of tuberculosis

Tuberculosis (TB) continues to be the bane of mankind. Early diagnosis is the cornerstone of tuberculosis control strategies. Recent years have seen major advances in the fields of biotechnology and molecular biology with introduction of several new diagnostic techniques for tuberculosis and improvement in the existing ones. The new automated culture techniques have appreciably reduced the time required for detection and antimicrobial susceptibility testing. The molecular amplification techniques like the Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) have made the same-day diagnosis a reality. Improvements in serology and introduction of novel new techniques like the bacteriophage assays have also shown a lot of promise. However, most of these new techniques are too expensive and sophisticated to be of any practical benefit to the vast majority of TB patients living in underdeveloped countries like Pakistan for whom an early and inexpensive diagnosis remains as elusive as ever. In this article various existing modalities as well as the new advances in TB diagnostics are reviewed.