Project Info
About Stool4TB
Stool4TB was an EDCTP-funded project that aimed to evaluate an innovative stool-based qPCR diagnostic platform (with the capacity to become a POC diagnostic tool) in the high TB and HIV burden settings of Mozambique, Eswatini and Uganda. The researchers hypothesised that it would narrow the extremely large TB case detection gap by improving TB confirmation rates in children and PLHIV.
Project Objectives
Stool4TB aimed to validate an innovative stool homogenization and DNA isolation method that yields a highly sensitive and specific Mtb qPCR-based diagnostic. We aimed to create a TB diagnostic network among African high-TB-burden countries with the capacity to conduct clinical studies of novel diagnostics and new drugs with a focus on children and PLHIV.
Project objectives included:
Assess the feasibility, tolerability and acceptability of such specimen collection from both the patient and the health system perspective.
Create a biobank of comparative specimens provided by pediatric and HIV-positive suspected TB patients at different time points during treatment to facilitate the future evaluation of novel assays for TB diagnosis or drug resistance detection among pediatric populations and PLHIV.
Create a TB diagnostic network among African high TB burden countries with the capacity to conduct clinical studies of novel diagnostics and new drugs with a focus on children and PLHIV. This will be achieved by strengthening collaboration and sustaining capacity-building activities among participating African institutions.
Study Population: Children younger than 8 and adults living with HIV (>15 years of age) who present with TB-compatible symptoms.
Expected recruitment: Around 1,500 pediatric TB presumptive children and 650 HIV-positive TB presumptive adults.
Timeline: The project started in mid-2021 and ran until 31 December 2025.
Study Sites
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