Abstract
ABSTRACT
Rapid and sensitive diagnostic strategies are crucial for the prevention and control of tuberculosis (TB). Unlike the invasive TB diagnostic strategy in the clinic, here we introduce a convenient, portable, and non‐invasive system that is constructed by Ag@Au nanoflower (NF) array‐based sensing facemask and catalytic/plasmonic urchin‐shaped Au─Ag embedded covalent organic framework (U@COF) sensor. This system detects TB antigen ESAT‐6/CFP‐10 complex in droplet or sputum samples from a variety of clinical settings. Practical analysis of clinical samples demonstrates this assay is capable of classifying the negative (
N = 12
) and positive (
N = 17
) TB patients with satisfactory sensitivity (76.5%) and specificity (100%), among whom two TB‐infected patients (TB3 and TB5) missed by droplet analysis are successfully identified by sputum analysis. More importantly, two cases with abnormally elevated ESAT‐6/CFP‐10 levels are screened out from close contacts of TB patients (
N = 6
), which is highly suggestive of TB infection (Close contacts 3 and 4). This portable mask is suitable for rapid diagnosis of TB infection in patients with cough, particularly for screening of TB close contacts.