Newer diagnostic methods in tuberculosis detection

One-third of the world's population has been infected with Mycobacterium tuberculosis, with new infections occurring in about 1% of the population each year. However 90–95% of infections remain asymptomatic. Thus early diagnosis of tuberculosis and drug resistance improves survival and helps to promote contact tracing, implementation of institutional cross-infection procedures, and other public-health actions. There have been many advances and modifications to the methodology for tuberculosis diagnosis some of which are very promising. But these advances have not kept pace with the explosion of tuberculosis or the outbreak of drug resistant tuberculosis. This review describes some of the newer advances in tuberculosis diagnostics and the challenges they face.