The National Health Laboratory Services plans to pilot a new way for finding tuberculosis (TB) in kids have been put on hold after a cyberattack shut down computer systems at the state labs.
South Africa isnt doing well at finding children with TB, and just 60% of those with the disease are on treatment.
Thats because finding TB in young children is tricky in the first place, as they usually have so little of the germs in their lungs that sputum tests often come back negative.
In 2021, the World Health Organisation recommended using stool samples to test for TB, and now South Africas new childhood TB guidelines will include this method.
In todays newsletter , health reporter Zano Kunene explains why testing childrens stools can get more of them on TB medication. Sign up now .
Plans to kick off a study this month to test a new way for finding tuberculosis (TB) in kids by looking at their poop have been put on hold after a cyberattack in late June shut down the National Health Laboratory Services (NHLS) computer systems, says Farzana Ismail, a clinical microbiologist with the lab network.
Because of the IT problems at the countrys public pathology lab service, test results now have to be processed and reported manually , slowing down feedback to doctors and patients and upsetting plans like those for the TB testing study. But, says Ismail, it remains a priority.
The pilot, in which stool samples were to be tested for signs of the TB germ, would have taken place over the next two months at six labs in Gauteng, the Eastern Cape and the Western Cape, she told Bhekisisa at the 8th TB Conference in Durban in early June . The new method will be rolled out at state labs nationwide, the NHLS confirmed.
Finding TB in children is difficult, because young kids (those younger than five) often have only a small amount of the bacteria in their lungs. This means the bug might not show up in a sputum sample (a mix of saliva and mucus from the airways), and so the test result could come back negative even though the child is actually sick with TB.
