Washington, August 17 : Researchers have announced the discovery of a faster, cheaper method for the diagnosis of tuberculosis (TB).

Dr Olivier Braissant and his colleagues have developed a method, which could potentially decrease the time taken to make a diagnosis. Their method is also cheaper than the current fastest methods.

Dr Braissant and his colleagues used a microcalorimeter to detect the growth of Mycobacterium tuberculosis - the bacterium which causes TB.

This method proved to be faster than growing the bacteria in the lab and as fast as other more expensive methods (between 5.5 and 12.5 days).

Microcalorimeters, like the one used in this research, measure the heat given off during a chemical, physical or biological process, in this case when the bacteria grow.

They convert this tiny temperature rise into an electrical signal, which can be amplified and recorded by a computer. This then produces a graphical footprint, which is unique to each species of bacteria.

A further important feature of this method is that it uses readily available, cheap materials.

The study was recently published in the Society for Applied Microbiology''s Journal of Applied Microbiology. (ANI)