Detecting Active Tuberculosis Bacilli on TB Smears

Tuberculosis is one of the leading infectious causes of death worldwide . Each year, millions of individuals contract and develop active TB without knowing . Case identification and treatment are the primary methods for controlling spread as there is no effective TB vaccine for adults. Unfortunately, delays in diagnosis are common, especially in resource-limited settings, and can worsen individual outcomes and perpetuate transmission of the disease. Recently, global TB control has been severely impacted by the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on health care systems, and mortality from TB is on the rise for the first time in over a decade. Despite recent advances in genomic testing, the pillar of diagnosing active pulmonary TB remains microscopy for the identification of mycobacterium tuberculosis in the respiratory sputum. This requires microscopists with the time and training to accurately review all suspected cases of TB, which may not be routinely available in rural or developing nations. Automated digital microscopy has been proposed as a cost-effective solution . An automated algorithm that could reliably detect mycobacterium on samples from patients with suspected TB would lead to more accurate and timely diagnosis of active TB in many places that currently have barriers to both.