Patil Medical College, Pune, released a new study shedding new light on tuberculosis (TB) dynamics in India.
The study is based on real-world data on the TB drug-resistance profile by whole genome sequencing (WGS) of 600 clinical samples from patients with TB in India.
This study indicates the clinicians’ reasons for sending samples for WGS, which is for difficult-to-treat cases and/or relapse and treatment failure.
Our study underscores the urgency of revisiting the conventional ‘one size fits all’ approach to TB management.
The study highlights the increasing use and adoption of Whole Genome Sequencing by doctors and clinicians for accurate diagnostics and personalized treatment approaches and policy intervention in tackling drug-resistant TB.
HaystackAnalytics, a genomics diagnostic solution provider, in collaboration with Dr. D.Y. Patil Medical College, Pune, released a new study shedding new light on tuberculosis (TB) dynamics in India.
The study is based on real-world data on the TB drug-resistance profile by whole genome sequencing (WGS) of 600 clinical samples from patients with TB in India. This study indicates the clinicians’ reasons for sending samples for WGS, which is for difficult-to-treat cases and/or relapse and treatment failure.
The key findings- as per an official statement – include that pre-extensively drug-resistant TB (pre-XDR-TB) was present in 50.83% of cases, while Multidrug-resistant TB was found in 15.5%, with nearly equivalent proportions among men and women. The findings highlighted resistance not only to rifampicin, a drug used to manage and treat diverse mycobacterial infections, and isoniazid, an antibiotic indicated in the first-line treatment of active Mycobacterium tuberculosis (TB) infection but also to fluoroquinolones, which is used widely as therapy for respiratory and urinary tract infections.
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The predominant lineage was the Beijing genotype (39.5%) followed by Delhi-CAS (36.66%) and EAI (14.50%) 55% in the age group from 15-35 years and 67% in the age group up to 14 years had pre-XDR TB.
Prioritizing the utilization of advanced technologies like whole genome sequencing, Dr. Anirvan Chatterjee, CEO and Co-founder at HaystackAnalytics and a contributor to this study, said “India bears 27% of the total TB cases in the world, according to the Global TB Report 2023 by WHO. Our study underscores the urgency of revisiting the conventional ‘one size fits all’ approach to TB management.
When anti-TB therapy is given in the absence of a complete drug resistance profile, such therapy may contain one or more drugs to which the patient is resistant to, and could compromise the outcome of the therapy.
The study highlights the increasing use and adoption of Whole Genome Sequencing by doctors and clinicians for accurate diagnostics and personalized treatment approaches and policy intervention in tackling drug-resistant TB.
