A path-breaking diagnostic technology invented by a city hospital can help the country fight the relatively new multi-drug resistant (MDR) tuberculosis.
A path-breaking diagnostic technology invented by a city hospital can help the country fight the relatively new multi-drug resistant (MDR) tuberculosis. The technology makes it possible to detect MDR tuberculosis in three to four days instead of the conventional three months. It also stops cross transmission.
The PD Hinduja Hospital’s invention has recently been mentioned in the International Journal of Infectious Diseases. Brainchild of researcher Dr Shubadha Shenai from the microbiology department of the hospital, the molecular test is quick, accurate, and can be effective in curbing the spread of the highly contagious disease. The hospital has already filed for a patent.
The technology called Reverse Line Blot Hybridisation (RLBH) answers some of the vital questions that a clinician needs to know while treating a tuberculosis patient. “This test will rapidly confirm the drug-resistant mutation in multi-drug resistant TB,” Dr Camilla Rodrigues, the consultant microbiologist who headed the team of researchers, said.
The test makes it possible for doctors to know about the drugs the patient is resistant to and change the treatment accordingly. In this molecular technology, drug resistant mutation is visualised. “This test allows us to know the level of resistance as well,”
Rodrigues said. The test was used in 350 samples from the city to validate it.
In most of the cases in India, multi-drug resistant tuberculosis is detected only when the first line of treatment has failed. The diagnostic methods take at least three months to establish that the patient has MDR TB.
The standard conventional method to detect such a TB is culture. The manual technique, LJ, takes about four to 12 weeks, and the automated, MGIT, about one to four weeks. The test to study the resistance to a particular drug takes additional time.
This new technology has the potential to reduce transmission as crucial time is saved in diagnosis. It will, however, take some time for the technology to be cost-effective. At present, LJ costs about Rs250. This will cost as much as MJIT — about Rs2,000.
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