Utility of aerosol-based detection of Mycobacterium tuberculosis in characterising person-to-person transmission
Globally, approximately 10 million people become sick from tuberculosis (TB) and 1 million people die each year. Transmission of M. tuberculosis, the bacteria that causes tuberculosis, is airborne and from person-to-person. The development of effective interventions to reduce transmission are a priority to limit the health and economic consequences of tuberculosis in high TB burden countries.
Understanding the risk of transmission from people in high TB burden countries is a crucial step in developing new interventions. However, detecting aerosolised M.tuberculosis in clinical practice is difficult due to the complexity, size and cost of available detection devices.
This project will evaluate a novel, handheld electrostatic air-sampling device developed at Karolinska Institutet. Performance of the device will be compared with other equivalent devices in dedicated research settings, while clinical studies in South Africa will describe aerosol M. tuberculosis detection in people being investigated for TB.
The project will be implemented in collaboration with Stellenbosch University. Funding has been provided by the Swedish Research Council for Health, and the Heart and Lung Foundation.