SA: New technology could revolutionise TB diagnosis

A new technology being pioneered in South Africa may make screening for tuberculosis (TB) faster, cheaper and more reliable - and it's all based on technology found on a typical trip through airport security.

12 Jan 2010

The new computer diagnostic system known as TBDx takes digital pictures of sputum samples and searches them for TB's structural “fingerprint.” Some airport scanners work in much the same way, searching luggage for the structural fingerprints of plastic explosives, for example.

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