Tuberculosis (TB) is one of the most public health challenges in India as the country is responsible for the highest number of TB cases globally. While the government has set a target to abolish TB by 2025, five years before the global target set by the World Health Organization (WHO), drug-resistant TB strains and delayed diagnosis are still the major obstacles.

Recently in a scientific success, on World Tuberculosis Day, Indian researchers have successfully completed the genome sequencing of 10,000 mycobacterium tuberculosis (MTB), a step that can change TB diagnosis and treatment.

Mycobacterium tuberculosis (MTB) isolates are individual samples of bacteria that produce TB from patients to study drug resistance and treatment reaction.

Tuberculosis and drug resistance

Tuberculosis is an ancient disease, caused by bacterial mycobacterium tuberculosis, which mainly affect the lungs but can also affect other parts of the body. It spreads through the air when an infected person coughs or sneezes. While TB is treated with antibiotics, the emergence of drug resistant strains has made the treatment quite complicated.

The drug-resistant TB occurs when bacteria develop resistance to mutet (DNA change) and standard TB drugs.

This makes it difficult to treat the disease and increases the risk of transmission. Traditional methods of diagnosis of drug-resistant TB, such as culture-based drug sensitivity testing, weeks, which delay treatment and increase the possibility of transmission.

Genome sequencing: a game-shineer in TB diagnosis

To compete with the challenge of drug-resistant TB, India launched the Dare2rad TB initiative on March 24, 2022. Under this program, the Indian tuberculosis genomic surveillance (INTGS) Consortium, a collaborative effort for the Department of Biochemistry, ICRIS (CSIR) TB separates across the country.

Of these, researchers have successfully completed the genome sequencing of 10,000 mycobacterium tuberculosis isolates.

Genome sequencing is a state -of -the -art technology analyzing full genetic material of bacteria. By studying genetic makeup of mycobacterium tuberculosis, you can identify scientific mutations that make bacteria resistant to drugs.

It helps to predict which antibiotics will be effective for a particular patient, allowing for rapid and more personal treatment.

“This data will enable the development of the next generation of genomic tests, which allows rapid and more accurate detection of drug-resistant TB strains. Unlike traditional tests, which can provide resistance profiling resistance within hours or days,” Dr. Jitendra Singh said, Minister of State for Science and Technology, Dr. Jitendra Singh said.

Importance of genome sequencing

Current methods to detect drug resistant TB takes weeks, causing delays in treatment. The genome sequencing resistance resistance can quickly identify mutation, ensuring that patients receive the right medications without unnecessary delays.

Since separate TB strains respond differently to drugs, genome sequencing doctors to prescribe drugs based on specific genetic makeup of bacteria in the patient’s body. This can improve the success rate of treatment and reduce relaxes.

Understanding how TB bacteria mutated and spread in different regions of India, will help public health authorities implement targeted interventions, which may reduce new infections.

The initial detection and treatment of drug-resistant TB may spread further, bringing India closer to its target of eliminating TB.

Genome sequencing challenges

While genome sequencing makes great promises, its broad adoption faces many challenges. Costs and access to reach significant obstacles remain.

While appreciating the scientific progress in the fight against tuberculosis, the Minister of Science and Technology, Dr. Jitendra Singh said that phenotypeic drug-specification test and M. Tuberculosis culture is generally considered as the standard of gold for diagnosis, genome sequencing technologies are being applied to rapid identification and prediction of drug resistance.

He also said that adopting molecular methods for TB diagnosis and resistance testing is uneven, affected by socio -economic inequalities across the countries.

Secretary of the Department of Biotechnology, Dr. Rajesh S. Gokhale highlighted the importance of mass implementation. He said, “The insight by sequencing these 10,000 TB isolates should now be included in practical pipelines for TB diagnosis and drug resistance monitoring in all healthcare settings,” he said.

In India’s fight against TB, successful implementation of genome sequencing can be a significant turn in making the country TB-free.