Costs of potential screening tests for active tuberculosis (TB)#
| Cost components | Radiological | Microbiological | Amplification | Immunological | ||||
| Chest radiograph | Induction | Smear | Culture | PCR | TST | Cell-mediated immune tests¶ | Serology | |
| Capital costs | $500000 for radiography unit | Room $15000 or booth $5000; nebuliser $1200 | $5000 for light microscope | $65000 for Bactec unit (Becton, Dickinson and Co., Franklin Lakes, NJ, USA) | $5000–10000 for PCR unit | None | $149000 | $50000–100000 for light reader |
| Materials | $5 | $1 | $5 | $5 | $35–50 | $1.25 | $25–120 | $3–5 |
| Labour | $10 | $24 | $15 | $30 | $15–30 | $6 | $10–150 | $5 |
| Overall cost per test+ | $22 | $25 | $13 | $25 | $75 | $7 | $35–270 | $8–10 |
| Complexity§ | 3 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 4 | 2 | 5 | 2 |
| Time to result | 1 h | 15 min | 1 h | 3–8 weeks | 4 h | 2–3 days | 1–2 days | 1 h |
TST: tuberculin skin test. #: all costs in Canadian dollars; ¶: tests of cell-mediated immunity range from Quantiferon© (Cellestis International, Carnegie, Australia), the simplest and only commercially available test, to tests performed in research laboratories, which performed lymphocyte separation, in vitro culture with stimulation, and detection using RT-PCR; +: overall cost includes material and labour, but does not incorporate depreciation on capital or other overhead costs; §: complexity scored from 1) very simple, requires little training to 5) very complex, requires sophisticated equipment and highly trained technicians.