A new rapid method detects tuberculosis resistance to antibiotics in three days
Tuberculosis remains one of the most widespread infectious diseases in the world, with over ten million new cases each year. Among these, hundreds of thousands develop a form resistant to standard treatments, complicating their management. Early diagnosis of this resistance is essential to improve recovery chances and limit the spread of the disease. However, traditional detection methods take several weeks, a delay often too long for effective intervention.
A recent breakthrough offers an innovative solution: a genetically modified virus, called a bacteriophage, capable of revealing in just three days whether the bacterium responsible for tuberculosis is resistant to the main antibiotics. This bacteriophage, named ΦLSN, was designed to emit measurable light when it infects the bacterium. This light makes it possible to quickly determine whether the drugs are working or not.
The effectiveness of this method was tested on clinical samples. For four commonly used antibiotics against tuberculosis, the results show high accuracy. The test correctly detects resistance to rifampicin in 93.8% of cases, to isoniazid in 96.4%, to streptomycin in 100% of cases, and to ethambutol in 80% of cases. False positives are rare, with specificity rates exceeding 97% for each antibiotic. Additional validation on 131 samples confirms these performances, with comparable results obtained in just 72 hours.
Unlike classical approaches, which require long and complex culture steps, this new method simplifies the process. It uses a liquid culture system already widespread in laboratories, the MGIT 960, and allows testing multiple antibiotics at the same time on a single plate. Additionally, samples can be stored at 37 degrees for two weeks without losing their validity, which facilitates their transport and centralized analysis.
This approach therefore combines speed, simplicity, and reduced cost, major assets for regions where resources are limited. It could thus play a key role in the fight against drug-resistant tuberculosis by providing an accessible tool for faster and more reliable diagnosis.
About Our Sources
Original Publication
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1186/s40249-026-01470-5
Title: Rapid drug susceptibility testing of Mycobacterium tuberculosis against first-line drugs simultaneously all-in-one plate by using a novel high-sensitive reporter phage combined with the BACTEC MGIT 960 system
Journal: Infectious Diseases of Poverty
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Authors: Ruiqing Ma; Ying Zhang; Minghua Zhu; Muyang Zhang; Chengcheng Qian; Juan Wu; Zhidong Hu; Mingquan Guo; Xiao-Yong Fan