New rapid blood test for the detection of Bovine TB.

A new blood test to detect Mycobacteria in blood has been developed by researchers. The scientists have used this new method to show that cattle diagnosed with bovine tuberculosis (bTB) have detectable levels of the bacterium Mycobacterium bovis (M. bovis) in their blood which causes this disease. The routine test for Bovine TB uses the Single Intradermal Comparative Cervical Tuberculin (SICCT) skin test for M. bovis infection and all healthy cattle are regularly tested this way. However, it is known that this test is only 90 per cent sensitive at best and misses many infected animals. This has prompted the need for better techniques to prevent false negatives during testing. Many countries are suffering the scourge of the disease not only because of economic loss but because of zoonotic nature of disease. The team from the University of Nottingham led by Dr Cath Rees, an expert in microbiology in the School of Biosciences and Dr Ben Swift from the School of Veterinary Medicine and Science.The result published has been published online in the peer reviewed medical journal Virulence shows evidence of Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex bacteraemia in intradermal skin test positive cattle detected using phage-RPA. This new, simple and inexpensive blood test detects very low levels of mycobacteria in blood using a bacteriophage-based technique developed by The University of Nottingham. The group has patented an improved version of the method that delivers results in just six hours. More recently 'proof of principal' experiments have shown that this is even more sensitive. This is currently licensed to a spin out company, PBD Biotech Ltd.