Sample Challenge And Solution

Tuberculosis (TB) is a curable disease because there are effective drugs to treat it. However, the chance of cure is reduced when treatment starts at advanced stages of the disease and when the infection is caused by a type of TB resistant to the “first choice” of drugs for treatment. Thus, the best strategy to stop the TB epidemic is to isolate and treat infectious patients before they spread the disease.

The most common and infectious form of TB is pulmonary TB, and it is a worldwide epidemic. The usual diagnosis relies on asking patients with clinical signs or those who have been exposed to the disease to provide samples of sputum – the body fluid from the upper airways. Lab technicians then process the sample and look under a microscope for the presence of the infecting agent (Mycobacterium tuberculosis).

In areas of highest incidence, this lengthy task – performed in the labs or larger hospitals or in referral centers – causes a bottleneck during both diagnosis and treatment. This logjam is worsened by the need to continually test patients’ sputum samples while tracking treatment progress.   

To reduce or eliminate this bottleneck, a more efficient methodology is needed for diagnosis and treatment.

In 2004 alone, the worldwide TB epidemic took two million lives, and another nine million were infected. According to World Health Organization calculations, every untreated person with active TB will infect 10 to 20 more people throughout the duration of the disease.

Automated detection of TB in sputum samples can be accomplished by digitizing images taken of the sputum samples. The objective is to automate the microscopic search for the infecting agent by creating an annotated library, computer algorithms and hardware to acquire and analyze the digital images of the samples.

It is expected that implementation will require only a low-cost, low-maintenance interface, a commercial digital camera and a personal computer. This it would represent a reasonable, low-cost upgrade for hospitals with high service demands. At the same time, it would be flexible enough to be used in emergency rooms and small health centers.

Infected patients
Early diagnosis will greatly increase the chances for cure.

Infected patients who do not respond to the first-choice drugs
Improved monitoring during treatment will increase the chances for cure.

Laboratory staff
Ability to process and validate more samples and treat more patients in less time.

Physicians
Faster delivery of test results will facilitate better treatment.

General population
Reduce the burden on the public health system and end the vicious correlation between poverty and TB.

NOTE: Once this solution has proved successful, other diseases that are diagnosed by finding microscopic pathogens could benefit from the knowledge and expertise developed through the project.