Open access TB testing tool improves patient care worldwide

Researchers at the University of Melbourne’s Doherty Institute have developed an open-access genomic software tool called tbtAMR that rapidly analyses the Mycobacterium tuberculosis genome to detect drug-resistance mutations and report actionable results for clinicians, enabling faster, more accurate treatment decisions and improved patient care; the tool performs at a high level of accuracy, is designed for use in routine clinical labs without specialised bioinformatics skills, and is freely available to laboratories globally — especially benefiting low- and middle-income settings facing increasing drug-resistant TB.