Abbott Introduces New Molecular Test to Aid in the Diagnosis of Tuberculosis

Abbott announced it received CE mark approval for a new molecular diagnostic test for detection of Mycobacterium tuberculosis (MTB), the bacteria that causes tuberculosis (TB), which continues to be a major global public health threat.

The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates there were 8.6 million people who developed TB in 2012 and of these, an estimated 1.1 million people are also HIV-positive. People with compromised immune systems, such as those living with HIV-1, are more likely to develop tuberculosis.2 In high burden areas like Africa, where 75 percent of TB-HIV co-infections occur, Abbott is committed to helping reduce the global burden of infectious diseases and is working closely with health officials and medical teams to provide molecular diagnostic tests to help clinicians diagnose individuals with TB and to monitor response to HIV-1 therapy.

"Clinicians need access to reliable and highly sensitive molecular tests for TB and HIV to help curb transmission of these diseases," said Gavin Cloherty, Ph.D., director, global scientific affairs, infectious diseases, molecular diagnostics, Abbott. "TB is curable and with expanded access to molecular diagnostics technologies there is great potential to save lives in resource-limited areas."

Abbott's MTB test is performed on the automated m2000 molecular diagnostic testing system. The instrument can be adopted by laboratories of all sizes and offers efficiency by consolidating HIV-1 and MTB tests on the same platform. An MTB inactivation step is included with the MTB test procedure to reduce the risk of infection caused by airborne exposure to MTB during handling of sample material.