Professor Kusum Surana from PGI, Chandigarh has developed a modified version of an older diagnostic test used to easily detect extrapulmonary tuberculosis (EPTB) in rural areas.

Due to the lack of proper resources and manpower in rural areas, testing for extrapulmonary tuberculosis has become a big issue. Dr. Surana has developed the loop-medicated isothermal amplification (LAMP) test, a low-cost diagnostic tool that can be used to detect EPTB in areas without electricity and other resources. Although the LAMP test existed previously, Dr. Surana helped increase its sensitivity in diagnosis. 

The diagnostic tool is isothermal nucleic acid amplification technique (NAAT). The modification lies in the part that the new version uses two TB genes for diagnosis, so if a part is missing in one gene, the same can be picked up by another gene. The modified test only requires a temperature-controlled water bath, takes only 90 minutes to detect TB, and costs less than Rs. 100. 

Information for the article was sourced from Times of India. Find the original article by clicking here.