Scientist in Britain have developed a tiny kit to detect TB bacterium in a mission to Mars, hoping a revolution in TB diagnosis methods. This tiny TB dectection kit is made for the Beagle 2 project and is a gas chromatograph mass spectrometer (GC-MS) that can pick out the unique chemical fingerprint of TB, BBC reported.
The kit had to be reduced in size because of the need to minimize its weight. It is now the size of a shoebox and could now be practical to use in developing countries. Experts hope that if they can build instruments rugged enough to look for life elsewhere in the Solar System, they would be able to tackle the problem of detecting TB bacteria in the lung of a patient.
Presently, their is a very urgent need to find an accurate and cost-effective method of diagnosing TB. Because TB diagnosis is not accurate, people with TB may have to be seen up to 10 times before they can start TB treatment. They may be infectious throughout this period.
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