Is there a faster way to diagnose Tuberculosis?

Saturday 16th Jun 2018, 3.14pm

Tuberculosis is still one of the top ten causes of death worldwide, with 1.4 million people dying from TB in 2015. If your doctor suspects you have the disease it can take up to 6 weeks to get a diagnosis! Tuberculosis (TB) has influenced history. The disease was for centuries associated with poetic and artistic qualities in its sufferers, and was known as “the romantic disease”. But in reality there is nothing romantic about the disease. Before drug therapy was available in 1946, nearly half of the people infected with tuberculosis died. Tuberculosis is still one of the top ten causes of death worldwide, with 1.4 million people dying from TB in 2015. If your doctor suspects you have the disease it can take up to 6 weeks to get a diagnosis! In this week’s Oxford Sparks Big Question podcast we visited Dr Philip Fowler, Senior Researcher at University of Oxford Using molecular simulation to predict antibiotic resistance and also runs @bashthebug to ask: Is there a faster way to diagnose Tuberculosis?