Study links mutant gene to severe TB

A new study in Vietnam has identified a mutant gene which humans can carry that can develop into potentially fatal meningitis if the carrier is infected with the drug resistant strain of tuberculosis.

The Bejing TB strain is the most severe form of the infection which spreads to membranes around the brain and spinal cord.

A new study found people who carried a form of the TLR2 gene and were infected with the Bejing TB strain were most likely to develop TB meningitis.

Dr Maxine Caws, from the Hospital for Tropical Diseases in Vietnam, wrote in the report: "Our findings are important because they show that we need to look at both the patient's susceptibility to the disease and the genetics of the pathogen that is infecting them at the same time."

Researchers took samples from 187 patients suffering from TB meningitis and 236 people with the common TB infection, and analysed the genes to see the presence of the TLR2 gene.

The World Health Organisation estimates that around five per cent of worldwide TB cases are now drug resistant and patients with drug resistant TB meningitis have a 100 per cent mortality rate due to the lack of effective treatments.