Latent TB – a silent pandemic?

Friday 24th March, is World TB Day. Recent reports have highlighted that the number of TB cases in London has doubled in the last 10 years and we are currently on the brink of a pandemic.

Current estimates indicate worldwide spending of $1.4bn in the diagnosis of TB. Latent, non-symptomatic, TB is of greatest concern given the difficulties of diagnosis.

Figures released this week from the Health Protection Agency show that the number of new cases of tuberculosis in the UK has risen to over 7,000 per year. However up to a further four million people could be infected with latent TB. According to the World Health Organisation, one third of the world’s population is infected with latent TB and around ten per cent will go on to develop active disease.

TB is particularly difficult to diagnose in immunocompromised patient groups, such as those with HIV, babies, transplant and arthritis patients, who are at highest risk of conversion from latent to active disease. Recent statistics suggest that 50% of HIV positive patients die before they receive the results from current microbial culture approaches which can take months. The skin test is completely ineffective in these patients and inaccurate in its diagnosis of latent TB.

T-SPOT™.TB, a simple, highly accurate blood test currently licensed for sale in Europe, has been developed by Oxford Immunotec to specifically diagnose latent TB in all patient groups. Yesterday new NICE guidelines recommended the use of blood tests as the first line diagnostic for latent TB in all immunosuppressed individuals, whatever the cause. T-SPOT.TB is poised to help overcome the current limitations in controlling and managing the spread of TB through more accurate diagnosis.

The following spokespeople are available for comment on these issues for World TB Day:

• A patient living with HIV who contracted multi drug resistant TB 10 years ago
• Representatives from Oxford Immunotec, the Company that developed T-SPOT.TB
• There is also a bank of images available, including shots of the skin test and the results of the T-SPOT.TB test.

For more information or to arrange an interview, please contact me, Lorna Watson at Northbank Communications on +44 (0)207 8868157 or l.watson@northbankcommunications.com