For the past few days, we have been discussing about the new vaccine that has been founded by the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) to fight tuberculosis in adults, decades after the most famous BCG vaccine has been founded. Because the BCG vaccine has been found successful only for newborns, the ICMR decided to come up with a new vaccine specially designed for adults. While on the one hand, India has begun the clinical trial of this new tuberculosis vaccine, on the other hand, our scientists have come up with yet another startling finding.
What have the scientists found?
Scientists who have been researching on the tuberculosis disease, have come up with a finding which proves that the bacteria causing tuberculosis have mutated and may soon become resistant to even the most recent drugs like Bedaquiline! Bedaquiline is the latest drug that has proven to be most successful against MTB, which is why this drug is being used by the Union Health Ministry for treating tuberculosis
Adding to the above, it is also expected that the diagnostic kits used in India to detect tuberculosis may not even be able to find these drug-resistant bacteria! The scientists have found several mutations in the genes of tuberculosis bacteria that are causing such drug resistance.
Which scientists have been involved with the findings?
The team of scientists who have discovered these new findings include those from –
- The Indian Council of Medical Research
- The Institute if Bioinformatics, Bangalore
- The Yenepoya University, Mangalore
- The National Jama Institute of Leprosy and other Mycobacterial Diseases, Agra
All of this research has been funded by the Department of Biotechnology, the Infosys Foundation, and the Yenepoya University.
How was this lack of resistance found?
The team of researchers performed whole genome sequencing of 200 mycobacterium tuberculosis (MTB) strains that were collected between the years 2010 and 2014 at the National Jalma Institute of Leprosy and Other Mycobacterial Diseases at Agra. The MTB strains were from different categories like sensitive to first-line drugs, rifampicin mono-resistant, isoniazid mono-resistant, streptomycin mono-resistant, multi-drug resistant, and pre-extensively drug-resistant. Several novel genetic variations and novel genotypes were identified in these strains, which could be potentially associated with drug resistance. These variations included 343 single nucleotide variations, majority of which are not currently used in the diagnostic protocols for detection of drug-resistant tuberculosis! In addition, at least 20% of the strains were also found to be co-infected with non-tuberculous mycobacteria species along with the MTB. Due to these co-infections, our diagnostic tools are not able to detect the organisms and drug-resistance accurately.
This emerging drug resistance is a serious global threat, which poses a significant challenge to public health! India alone accounts for 1/4th of the global tuberculosis burden; so you can imagine the state of our country, if there is not made a stop to this drug-resistant tuberculosis bacteria! We only hope that the new vaccine brings with it good news of being able to fight this drug-resistant bacteria, so that we can save the lives of our tuberculosis patients; because if we don’t hurry up to bring an end to this growing bacteria, we may have a tuberculosis epidemic soon!
With such great findings, we are able to take immediate steps to stop any possible epidemics; thanks to the hard-working and dedicated researchers and scientists that we have, who are continually working to help bring to our notice the health threats that are trying to rule the world. You may also join this team and lend a helping hand by taking up professional coaching from a reputed clinical research virtual learning center Bangalore, like Avigna Clinical Research Institute.
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