Gorakhpur | Determining whether tuberculosis medicines are effective will no longer require a long wait. Health experts at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences Gorakhpur have developed a new point of care testing method that can identify the effectiveness of TB medicines within just two hours.
Until now, patients had to wait several weeks to know whether the prescribed medicines were working, as traditional culture based drug sensitivity tests took a long time. This delay often resulted in incorrect treatment, worsening patient conditions, and an increased risk of drug resistant tuberculosis spreading in the community.
The new POCT method enables doctors to quickly determine whether TB bacteria are responding to antibiotics and anti TB medicines. This allows timely correction of treatment, prevents unnecessary medication, and reduces the chances of complications caused by ineffective drugs.
The research was conducted under the leadership of Dr Arup Mohanty at AIIMS Gorakhpur. The team studied Mycobacterium tuberculosis and extensively drug resistant TB strains using this new technique. Patient samples were analysed, and results were obtained within two hours, compared to several weeks required for conventional tests.
The findings of this study were presented at the 14th annual conference of the Sri Lanka Society for Microbiology, held in Colombo. Researchers and TB specialists from India and other countries participated in the conference. Only 18 research papers were selected for presentation, and this study was among them, highlighting its global relevance and scientific value.
Experts stated that the new test is highly useful for detecting multi drug resistant and extensively drug resistant tuberculosis. AIIMS Gorakhpur is preparing to implement this test in clinical practice soon, which is expected to significantly improve TB diagnosis and treatment outcomes.
According to Dr Bimla Dutta, Director of AIIMS Gorakhpur, this innovation will help identify TB drug resistance in a much shorter time and ensure that patients receive the correct medicines without delay.
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