Facemask that can spot tuberculosis

In a study of tuberculosis (TB) patients, the mask correctly identified the life-threatening disease 86 per cent of the time. This compared with 20 per cent from a typical diagnostic tool which involves taking a sample of phlegm from inside the lungs, which is not always reliable.  The mask is now being trialled at an NHS TB service in Leicester, and is expected to save thousands of pounds in cost if it is rolled out nationwide. 

TB is one of the top ten leading causes of death globally, killing a total of 1.5million in 2018. Some 6,000 in the UK fall ill with TB every year. The researchers at the University of Leicester and the University of Pretoria designed 3D printed strips of polyvinyl alcohol that are inserted into the mask. The strips can reliably capture bacteria the causes TB when a person with symptoms breathes, coughs or talks. After 30 minutes, the strips can be tested in a laboratory with results coming back within half a day.  

Diagnostic tests for TB may involve a blood test, chest x-ray, and in some cases a bronchoscopy. Many countries still rely on a long-used method called sputum smear microscopy, when phlegm samples from the lungs are analysed under a microscope. But microscopy only detects half the number of TB cases and cannot detect drug-resistance TB, the World Health Organization (WHO) says.   Because TB often takes a while to develop, a person with symptoms may have had the infection in their body for weeks already, spreading to others, before a test picks it up.  Professor Mike Barer at the University of Leicester said: ‘This is the first time that exhalation from prospective patients with TB can be captured in such a quick and simple way.

(Vanessa Chalmers 

for Mailonline)