Application of targeted next generation sequencing technology in the diagnosis of Mycobacterium Tuberculosis and first line drugs resistance directly from cell-free DNA of bronchoalveolar lavage fluid

Tuberculosis (TB) is a communicable disease that continues a significant threat to global public health threats, and is one of the leading causes of death worldwide. The World Health Organization (WHO) has estimated that in 2021, TB caused the deaths of 1.6 million people globally, with an estimated 191,000 (range 119,000–264,000) deaths occurred due to multidrug-resistant or rifampicin-resistant tuberculosis (MDR/RR-TB). 1 Global Tuberculosis Report 2022 World Health Organization, Geneva2022 Google Scholar A recent paper by Priti Kambli and colleagues highlights that C-reactive protein has good diagnostic accuracy for pulmonary TB among symptomatic adults. 2 Calderwood CJ Reeve BW Mann T Palmer Z Nyawo G Mishra H Ndlangalavu G Abubakar I Noursadeghi M Theron G Gupta RK Clinical utility of C-reactive protein-based triage for presumptive pulmonary tuberculosis in South African adults. J Infect. 2023; 86: 24-32 Abstract Full Text Full Text PDF PubMed Scopus (4) Google Scholar The emergence and outbreak of Mycobacterium tuberculosis (MTB) infections, especially MDR and RR strains, have created a need for improved detection tools to guide treatment options for patients. Nevertheless, there are certain differences in diagnostic efficiency, coverage of anti-TB drugs, and the corresponding drug-resistance gene loci among different diagnostic assay kits.