U of’T professors track drug-resistant tuberculosis

It's the second leading cause of death by an infectious agent worldwide. Now, University of Toronto Professor Frances Jamieson is tackling drug-resistant tuberculosis with a new, lab-based surveillance system that can track the spread of the disease in real-time. "85 per cent of our cases in Ontario are foreign-born, so this system will allow us to have a global impact," says Jamieson. "We can identify and track existing and emerging strains of TB and this powerful technology can be applied to any type of infectious disease." As soon as public health officials identify an outbreak of tuberculosis (TB), the urgent questions begin. How far has it spread? Are the cases related? Who else in the community or in the "cluster" requires treatment? Is the strain drug-resistant? In crisis situations communication is critical; patients require quick and accurate diagnoses and treatment to prevent the spread of disease. "TB is a nasty disease," says Jamieson. "A healthy person can die from it and it's not a nice treatment." Jamieson, a professor at U of T's Department of Laboratory Medicine and Pathobiology (LMP), and a medical microbiologist with Public Health Ontario, is leading the way in tracking this potentially deadly disease with a powerful new Geographic Information System (GIS), known as Ontario Universal Typing - Tuberculosis (OUT-TB) Web.