Fluorescent bacteriophages for rapid diagnosis of tuberculosis
American scientists have "highlighted" the causative agents of tuberculosisResearchers from the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York and the University of Pittsburgh in Pennsylvania have developed a method for accelerated diagnosis of tuberculosis and isolation of antibiotic-resistant mycobacteria.
Scientists have created a bacteriophage whose genome contains a section encoding a fluorescent protein (fluorescence is the emission of light with a longer wavelength by a substance under the influence of radiation with a shorter wavelength; a bacteriophage is a virus that selectively infects bacterial cells and injects its DNA into them). Thus, bacteria affected by the phage are "illuminated" by a fluorescent protein.
The method developed by American scientists allows to reduce the time and cost, as well as increase the accuracy of the diagnosis of the disease. When sowing and growing mycobacterium cultures, it takes several weeks to isolate the causative agent of tuberculosis. The use of the created bacteriophages reduces this time to several days.
In addition to accelerated diagnosis of tuberculosis, this method allows the isolation of mycobacteria resistant to antibiotics. Using conventional methods, it takes more than a month. The researchers used bacteriophages simultaneously with antibiotics, as a result, mycobacteria sensitive to drugs died, and pathogens resistant to the effects of drugs were labeled with a fluorescent protein.
Dr. Graham Hatfull, one of the authors of the study, noted that according to data obtained from Africa, antibiotic–resistant mycobacteria cause the death of a tuberculosis patient within an average of 16 days. To help such patients, a fast, relatively cheap and simple method of diagnosing the disease is needed.
Newswise News: Researchers Develop New TB Test That Will Dramatically Cut Diagnosis TimePortal "Eternal youth" www.vechnayamolodost.ru