Genome sequencing to cut TB drug wait from 3 weeks to one

As the BMC's molecular diagnostics laboratory, located in the Kasturba Hospital compound, turned 15 years old on Monday, BMC officials announced it would soon start genome sequencing for drug-resistant tuberculosis (TB), one of the biggest public health challenges.

“We have given permission to start whole-genome sequencing for TB and the work should begin soon," said additional municipal commissioner Suresh Kakani at a function held at Kasturba Hospital's auditorium, near Chinchpokli station, on Monday.

The Kasturba lab, where the city's first Covid cases were identified on March 12, 2020, has played an important role in planning public health strategies against outbreaks and epidemics of leptospirosis, dengue, swine flu/H1N1, and Covid in the last 15 years. "In the last two years, we have conducted 3.5 lakh RT-PCR tests and conducted genome sequencing for 3,760 Covidpositive samples," said the laboratory's head, Dr. Jayanthi Shastri. It will also acquire a bio-safety laboratory level III, which are used to study infectious agents that can spread through air, she said.