Long a dream, its now real: a fast and accurate TB test that doesn't need phlegm.

Phlegm remains the most common test for determining if an individual has TB - a practice that has not changed much since the 1800s and poses many challenges for both patients and health care professionals. However, a new Chinese company Pluslife believes they have developed a new TB test that can rely on phlegm, or if a patient cannot produce phlegm, a tongue swab in detecting TB DNA. The new test was recently examined in a study published in the New England Journal of Medicine where it was shown to be easy to use and “meets the WHO TB targets for accuracy”. Read more here.