Scientists devise a bar code for the bacteria that causes tuberculosis
Posted: September 2, 2014 at 5:41 pm
PUBLIC RELEASE DATE:
1-Sep-2014
Contact: Jenny Orton press@lshtm.ac.uk 44-207-927-2802 London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine
Doctors and researchers will be able to easily identify different types of tuberculosis (TB) thanks to a new genetic barcode devised by scientists from the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine.
The bacteria that cause the deadly respiratory disease have evolved into families of strains, or lineages, which may affect people differently.
To help identify the different origins and map how tuberculosis moves around the world, spreading from person to person through the air, the research team studied over 90,000 genetic mutations.
According to the study published in Nature Communications the researchers found that just 62 mutations are needed to code the global family of strains.
Dr Taane Clark, Reader in Genetic Epidemiology and Statistical Genomics at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, who led the study, said: "There is increasing interest in new technologies that can assist those treating tuberculosis patients.
"This new barcode can be easily implemented and used to determine the strain-type that is a surrogate for virulence.
"We are making this information available to the doctors and scientists working with tuberculosis so that they can more easily know what strains they are dealing with."
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Scientists devise a bar code for the bacteria that causes tuberculosis