More than a dozen antibiotics and other drugs are used to treat TB.

Good news, however, emerged on October 19th, when the Comprehensive Resistance Prediction for Tuberculosis International Consortium (CRyPTIC, for short), an international collaboration that has been searching for quick ways to diagnose resistant strains, published the fruits of its labours.

About 15 years ago, however, researchers using new gene-sequencing technology began identifying specific, resistance-conferring mutations in M.

PCR tests are therefore now widely used to identify resistance-conferring mutations to rifampicin, one of the most effective anti-TB drugs.

CRyPTIC’s researchers proposed extending PCR testing’s scope by identifying all possible combinations of mutations that confer resistance to any combination of drugs, and also by assessing mutation-related levels of resistance to different doses of a drug.

The wells contained various amounts of 13 tuberculosis drugs.

Comparing the results of these examinations with full-genome sequences of each sample let CRyPTIC’s researchers discover what combinations of gene changes were correlated with which forms of drug resistance.

And, as rapid whole-genome sequencing becomes increasingly available, it will also identify the combination of drugs most likely to cure a particular patient.