3 ms·

So this New Yorker article is wrong? https://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/how-banning-a-tb-test-will-save-lives-in-india https://www.newyorker.com/news/news

• kylehotchkiss 2y ago
  IMO the mistake was using the test in isolation without considering other criteria. Let’s say you have somebody in a village who travels to visit a clinic. Chest xray positive so sputum samples taken. They don’t convert for 3 weeks, but contact is lost with patient. Maybe in this scenario the blood test adds the additional factor needed to start treatment sooner. There’s a lot of other diseases there a blood test can diagnose immediately, and I don’t blame health workers for the confusion, quantiferon is a unique test, but a countrywide education campaign could have worked to keep it as part of the diagnostic tools.