Texas BioMed Researcher Develops Improved TB Test for Use in Developing Countries
The world's deadliest infectious disease is more common than you think. Tuberculosis, or TB, kills 1.6 million people every year and is one of the top 10 causes of death globally. Over 95 percent of cases and deaths are in developing countries, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).Texas Biomedical Research Institute (Texas BioMed) researcher Jordi Torrelles, Ph.D. knows these numbers well — he specializes in tuberculosis research. He developed a TB test that has been adapted for the challenging conditions typically encountered when diagnosing TB in developing countries.Torrelles traveled to Mozambique, Swaziland and South Africa in early 2019 to put into place research collaborations for testing a cheaper, faster, easier way to diagnose TB. The low-tech, low-cost test w...