Life Sciences & Biotechnology
Title : | Unraveling the true burden of Human Brucellosis: evaluating bcsp31 Quantitative Polymerase Chain Reaction (qPCR) for differentiating Brucellosis from Brucella colonization. |
Area of research : | Life Sciences & Biotechnology |
Principal Investigator : | Dr. Megha Sharma, All India Institute Of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) Bilaspur, Himachal Pradesh |
Timeline Start Year : | 2022 |
Timeline End Year : | 2024 |
Contact info : | megha_sharma_16@yahoo.co.in |
Equipments : | Spectrophotometer |
Details
Executive Summary : | Human Brucellosis (HB) is the world's leading neglected zoonotic disease, with diagnostic inadequacies and a relapse rate of 20%-40% despite treatment. Culture remains the gold standard for diagnosis, but facilities are restricted to tertiary-care and reference centers due to biosafety concerns. Serological tests are widely used but give inconsistent results in endemic settings where asymptomatic self-limiting infections and multiple exposures to Brucella spp. are common. Anti-brucellosis therapy (ABT) is initiated in symptomatic patients based on a single positive serology, often mis-labelled as'relapse' and reintroduced, exposing patients to unnecessary drug pressure and masking the original cause of symptoms. The scientific objectives are to develop and validate a novel diagnostic test for Brucella that overcomes the limitations of serology and suits resource-limited endemic settings. Brucellae reside in the reticuloendothelial system of the human host without causing clinically-apparent disease, referred to as 'Brucella colonization (BC).' Conventional polymerase chain reaction (PCR) cannot differentiate between active disease and presence of dead bacilli. The main experiment involves evaluating real-time Quantitative PCR (qPCR) targeting the bcsp31 gene on serum samples of cases of HB and BC to determine a unique cut-off bacterial load. This bacterial load threshold would reliably differentiate active disease from colonization and contribute to estimating the true burden of HB. Serial monitoring of bacterial load at the end of treatment and 2, 6 months later would evaluate the possibility of relapse among treated patients. |
Total Budget (INR): | 15,31,200 |
Organizations involved