The test is not always correct, the panel said.
Considering that the rampant overuse of anti-tuberculosis medication leads the causes of the emergence of the total drug resistant strain of the TB bacilli, a government panel has advised doctors to refrain from diagnosing the disease on the basis of a single blood test, namely IgG-IgM. The test is not always correct, the panel said.
Rather they should follow a combination of tests, including sputum test, laboratory investigation, radiological investigation (X-ray) and finally microbiological confirmation to confirm the pathogen in their patients, said the panel set up by the Drugs Controller General of India (DGCI), while declaring a ban on blood test for TB diagnosis, a move which has been hailed by health experts in the city.
Set up following the scare of extensively drugs resistance (XXDR-TB), the DGCI panel found that the TB blood test has thrown up a TB-positive result in many cases where the pathogen did not even exist.
Welcoming the government move, senior chest physician Dr Jalil Parkar at Lilavati hospital said a combination of testing options was available. “Physicians must also look out for the actual signs and symptoms of the disease before prescribing any course of remedy,” Parkar said.
Joint director of state health department Dr PY Gaikawad said, “We too lay more stress on the sputum test. I think DCGI has taken the right stand and everybody must follow its directives.”
Confirming that the IgG-IgM test has been used extensively to diagnose TB patients across the country, a senior pathologist from a government hospital said on the condition of anonymity,
“Through this test, doctors gets an idea if the patient is likely sufferer of TB. However, the result of the blood test is not completely right, as in many cases it tests positive for those who don’t have TB.
Stating that it was to avoid this confusion, and the unnecessary medication that follows, that doctors should not rely on the single IgG-IgM test, the pathologist said, “Otherwise, we unnecessarily start the using TB drugs on otherwise healthy persons, often a second opinion and some more tests later do we realise that they don’t have TB at all.”
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