On World Tuberculosis Day, March 24, researchers at UC Davis’ Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine unveiled a blood test that can identify active, infectious tuberculosis (TB), a development that could speed diagnosis, prompt earlier treatment and help curb transmission. The test, adapted for routine clinical use with a medical technology partner, specifically detects antibodies linked to active TB-addressing a key limitation of current screening tools that cannot distinguish active disease from latent infection.
Existing tests such as the Mantoux skin test and interferon-gamma release assays (IGRAs) show whether someone has been exposed to Mycobacterium tuberculosis but do not reveal whether the infection is active and contagious. Confirmatory tests, including sputum analysis, can miss TB outside the lungs and are often impractical for young children who cannot produce adequate sputum samples. That diagnostic gap hampers efforts to identify and isolate infectious cases quickly.
The UC Davis test measures immune response similarly to IGRA but targets antibodies associated with active disease, so a positive result is intended to indicate current, transmissible TB. The test was evaluated in a clinical trial in India from 2019 to 2023 involving more than 600 participants. “The test performed surprisingly well,” said Imran H. Khan, a professor in the UC Davis Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, noting it detected not only adult pulmonary TB-which makes up about 60–70% of cases-but also harder-to-detect infections in children and TB in organs outside the lungs.
Khan has submitted the trial data and a clinical report to the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), India’s leading body for coordinating biomedical research; if approved, the test could be rolled out in India and neighboring countries. To commercialize the technology, Khan co-founded AppGenex Diagnostics, a Bay Area start-up based in Mountain View.
The development comes as global TB remains a major health threat: in 2024 an estimated 1.23 million people died and about 10.7 million fell ill, with South-East Asia bearing the largest share and India accounting for roughly 25% of new cases. “TB is often a disease of poverty, especially in developing countries,” Khan said, calling the work part of a wider effort to reduce suffering and transmission. If adopted widely, a reliable blood test for active TB could improve case detection, protect close contacts and make a measurable dent in the global TB burden. World Tuberculosis Day on March 24 underscores the ongoing need to strengthen diagnosis, treatment and prevention.
Original Source: https://respiratory-therapy.com/disorders-diseases/infectious-diseases/other-infections/test-identifies-active-infectious-tuberculosis/
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Publish Date: 2026-03-24 02:14:00
