Escaping the Plato's cave of latent tuberculosis testing: a path for developers of predictive tests for risk?of?tuberculosis

摘要

Tuberculosis (TB) is one of the leading causes of morbidity and death, disproportionately impacting the low- and middle-income countries, where 94% of TB cases occur. Every year, TB causes more than a million deaths and the World Bank estimates the epidemic will rob the world's poorest countries of US$1–3 trillion over the next decade, causing a loss of productivity of up to 4–7% of some countries' gross domestic product. Particularly troubling for the prospects of global prosperity, 75% of TB cases arise during people's most productive years, between the ages of 15 and 54, stifling human development on a large scale.The End TB Strategy calls for renewed focus on latent TB, which requires development of more predictive tests. Kik et?al. provide a framework for the clinical development of such tests, an ambition that calls for joint efforts by researchers and funders.