Tuberculosis (TB) is a deadly disease. Children often develop a form of this disease which makes diagnosis difficult even with the aid of formal techniques. The concentration of bacteria in children's sputum often falls below the lowest limit of detection for sputum smear microscopy. A student at the Department of Chemistry and Polymer Science tested whether a modification of a polymer often used in buccal swabs could be used  to a capture  and concentrate Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb), the bacteria responsible for TB. This will assist in meeting the detection limit and allow for rapid detection of the disease with modified oral swabs.

Industrially produced Poly(ethylene terephthalate) staple microfibres, commonly used for sample collection swabs, were used in this study, as well as a mimic strain of Mtb, called Mycobacterium bovis bacillus Calmette-Guérin (BCG). Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) micrographs were collected with a Zeiss MERLIN Scanning Electron Microscope and confocal fluorescence microscopy (CFM) micrographs were analyzed with a Carl Zeiss LSM 780 confocal microscope at the CAF SEM and FM Units.

Uniform surface functionalization was achieved through binding of a biologically active molecule called Concanavalin A (Con A), which has affinity for Mtb cell wall constituents. The study showed that the fibers were capable of capturing BCG bacilli, even at the low concentration representative of paucibacillary TB in children.

Read the article at: https://doi.org/10.1002/app.50638

Media requests:

Lize Engelbrecht

E-mail: lizeb@sun.ac.za

Prof Albert van Reenen

E-mail: ajvr@sun.ac.za

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