Overview
The Epidemiology Statistics division has been an integral part of the Epidemiology Unit of NIRT since 1968 with the BCG vaccine trial. Over the course of the years, the statistical team in this division has played important roles in several epidemiological surveys.
Some of the major milestone epidemiological studies of NIRT in the history of tuberculosis research in India, undertaken in the past, are listed below:
• Tuberculosis Prevention trial – a fifteen year follow-up study from 1968 – 1983 to study the effect of BCG on the incidence of tuberculosis.
• Leprosy Prevention trial - a fifteen year follow-up study from 1968 – 1983 to study the effect of BCG on the incidence of leprosy.
• Baseline and three repeat surveys to study the trends in the prevalence of pulmonary tuberculosis over a period of seven and a half years in a rural community in
South India – 1999 - 2008
• Trend in tuberculosis infection prevalence in a rural area in South India after implementation of the DOTS strategy – three repeat surveys between 1999 – 2010
• Prevalence surveys in the following areas
• Kashmir valley (1978)
• Raichur district (1988)
• North Arcot districts (1989)
• Tribal population of Jawadhu hills (1989)
• Chennai (2010-2012)
Head of the Department:
Dr Rajendran K, M.Sc., Ph.D., Scientist 'E'
Email id :
krishnan[dot]r[at]icmr[dot]gov[dot]in
| Sr. No. | Name of the Staff | Designation |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Dr. Senthil Kumar B | Technical Officer-C |
| 2 | Mrs. Vijayalakshmi R | Technical Officer-B |
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Isolation and Characterisation of the first temperate phage capable of lysogenising M. tuberculosis
In an effort to develop luciferase reporter phage (LRP) constructs with high sensitivity of detection, attempts were made successfully for isolating a temperate mycobacteriophage capable of infecting and lysogenising M. tuberculosis.
Well stained acid fast bacilli (AFB) were demonstrated in smears prepared from pot stained sputum and smear results were comparable with conventional ZN method.
The efficiency of the construct was found to be higher than the existing LRPs with cultures as anticipated. The attempt marked the beginning of diverse attempts to improve the LRP diagnostic assay.
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LRPs for the rapid detection of dormant tubercle bacilli
The luciferase reporter phages (LRP) show great promise for diagnostic mycobacteriology.
Since the tuberculosis (TB) cases among HIV infected population result from the reactivation of latent bacilli, development of LRPs capable of detecting dormant bacteria would be useful.
In a milestone study, 3 LRP constructs were developed using promoters of genes functioning during dormancy. These LRP constructs exhibited detectable luciferase activity in dormant as well as in actively growing M. tuberculosis .
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Phagebiotics cocktail as substitute for antibiotic supplements in liquid culture of M. tuberculosis
Organisms of the normal flora that survive the action of the decontaminating agent during sputum processing can cause heavy contamination of the culture, especially liquid culture.
Antibiotic supplements are used in liquid cultures to control such growth despite reports that these agents have deleterious effect on the tubercle bacilli.
This study demonstrated a novel hypothesis that a cocktail of phages that infect and lyse these organisms could be used in liquid cultures instead of the antibiotic supplements with better decontaminating efficiency and M. tuberculosis retrieving capacity.
Further study established the feasibility of using phage lysin supplement to phagebiotics in decontaminating processed sputum samples in liquid culture of M. tuberculosis . The study opened up new possibility of developing a novel biofriendly method of sputum processing.
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Phagebiotics cocktail as substitute for antibiotic supplements in liquid culture of M. tuberculosis
Organisms of the normal flora that survive the action of the decontaminating agent during sputum processing can cause heavy contamination of the culture, especially liquid culture.
Antibiotic supplements are used in liquid cultures to control such growth despite reports that these agents have deleterious effect on the tubercle bacilli.
This study demonstrated a novel hypothesis that a cocktail of phages that infect and lyse these organisms could be used in liquid cultures instead of the antibiotic supplements with better decontaminating efficiency and M. tuberculosis retrieving capacity.
Further study established the feasibility of using phage lysin supplement to phagebiotics in decontaminating processed sputum samples in liquid culture of M. tuberculosis . The study opened up new possibility of developing a novel biofriendly method of sputum processing.
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