Whole Genome Sequencing emerging as important tool to tackle drug-resistant TB: Experts

Even as controlling TB has been affected due to emergence and transmission of drug resistant strains, Whole Genome Sequencing has emerged as a tool that can identify the changes or mutations taking place due to the drug resistance.

“Efforts are underway across some organisations across the country for a WGS test. However it needs to have good concordance with the LCDST,” Dr Oswal told The Indian Express.

At a hybrid panel discussion Tuesday with pulmonologists to step up efforts to end the TB epidemic in India organised by HaystackAnalytics, a Mumbai-based health-tech startup, supported by the Department of Science and Technology, Government of India, the experts also said that Whole Genome Sequencing can emerge as the revolutionary one-stop solution for the diagnosis and treatment of tuberculosis in India.

Dr Nikhil Sarangdhar, member, Central Committee, Tuberculosis Association of India, when contacted told The Indian Express that there was a need to scale up diagnostics to ensure early detection and treatment for tuberculosis.

“Our focus is not on TB eradication but on TB elimination which means one brings down the level of diseases or infection to such an extent in the population that it ceases to be a public health problem,” he said.

Dr Sarangdhar noted that Whole Genome Sequencing can provide comprehensive and rapid information about the microbiological profile, resistance and sensitivity patterns of the patient much faster than conventional tests being used today.

As per the India TB 2022 report, the data in 2020 showed that of the 1.3 lakh persons (who had Covid) screened for TB, at least 2,163 were detected with the disease.

Overall, there have been 14,438 TB deaths in the last two years. About 7,453 persons with TB died in 2021 as against 6,985, who succumbed in 2020.

Dr Sarangdhar, who is also a master national trainer, National TB Elimination programme, told The Indian Express that the primary challenge is to tackle this huge TB burden.

Dr Anirvan Chatterjee, Co-Founder and CEO of HaystackAnalytics, said that the objective of the discussion was to put a spotlight on the stigma, challenges, and potential solutions in mitigating the impact of this silent killer.

“Whole Genome sequencing can detect TB and predict DST profiles at a much faster rate, demonstrating the future potential to reduce time-to-diagnosis and appropriate treatment for TB,” he said.