A new genetic test could halve the speed with which people can receive lifesaving treatment for tuberculosis.

Academics at Oxford University have developed a test to detect which drugs will effectively treat people for the deadly disease and will be twice as fast as previous methods.

Previously the only way to test whether the virus was immune to the drugs was to test the sufferer’s saliva and mucus. But because patients then had a six-week wait for results it could delay life-saving treatment.

The new test reduces the wait for the results to three weeks.

Since 2007 there have been 384 cases of TB reported in Oxfordshire.