Using host-responses and pathogen genomics to improve diagnostics for tuberculosis in Bandung, Indonesia

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Tuberculosis disease (TB) is a major public health issue in Indonesia with over one million cases and 123,000 deaths in 2016 alone. Worldwide, the World Health Organisation estimates that there are nine million new TB cases and nearly two million deaths each year. The increasing prevalence of multi-drug resistance strains is making disease control difficult. Until today, diagnosing active TB, especially in the early stages, is difficult and requires a sputum sample. In addition, current treatment takes more than 6 months of therapy, with diagnostics unable to help identify early treatment failure. An eventual diagnosis of drug resistance may mean extended further treatment for 2 years.This project seeks to identify a new diagnostic assay that uses a small blood sample to measure the patient's response to the tuberculosis infection, instead of looking for the tuberculosis bacterium directly. This assay could be able to identify patients earlier and monitor their treatment response. This would allow earlier treatment and more rapid ability to alter therapy to a more appropriate regimen.This project will link the Dr. Hasan Sadikin Hospital, Faculty of Medicine Universitas Padjadjaran (DHSH-UNPAD), with the Eijkman Institute for Molecular Biology and the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine - three institutions at the forefront of infectious disease research - to enable world class research. The project will also allow for the training of Indonesian researchers in genomic technologies and analysis to allow local capacity building.