One of the roadblocks to the eradication of tuberculosis (TB) is the difficulty in identifying patients with latent TB infections. Neither the tuberculin skin test nor interferon-gamma release assays (IGRAs) are capable of distinguishing active from latent infection or predicting the chance of reactivation. Now researchers from the Yonsei University have developed a new multiple-target, real-time reverse transcription-PCR (real-time RT-PCR) TaqMan assay. The whole blood … Continue reading New whole blood assay is the first to identify latent TB infections.