Tuberculosis is a chronic infection that has made a worldwide resurgence due to advent of HIV and AIDS. In addition to this there is rise of drug-resistant mycobacterium tuberculosis which further threatens the global TB control efforts. Therefore it is very necessary to have diagnostic measures that detect resistance of the drugs to a particular strain fast. Conventional methods take months to detect the resistance and the search is on for new ways to detect the resistance or multi drug resistance in patients of tuberculosis.
To help address these concerns, Seegene, a biotechnology company has come up with Anyplex MDR-TB Screening Test, a real-time PCR molecular diagnostic capable of simultaneous detection of TB and genetic mutations leading to multi-drug resistant TB within four hours.
The test would be introduced at the 2010 annual meeting and clinical lab expo of the American association for clinical chemistry.
According to the World Health Organization, a recent survey has determined that TB strains resistant to all major anti-TB drugs have been documented in every country. The most dangerous resistance is resistance to isoniazid and rifampicin.
It is estimated that more than 440,000 people are infected with MDR-TB.
With a quicker test available healthcare workers can determine the resistance sooner and enables them to take effective measures for treatment and further spread of the strain.
The test is yet to get clearance for clinical use.
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