Phage replication technology for diagnosis and drug susceptibility testing.

Of the world's infectious diseases, tuberculosis remains the leading cause of mortality and it has been estimated that of the eight million new cases that occur each year 95% are found in the less developed countries (1,2). Diagnostic methods that involve culture of Mycobacterium tuberculosis are necessarily slow due to the protracted growth times required by these bacteria. Rapid molecular tests have been developed for both diagnosis (3) and drug resistance testing (4). However, the high costs and requirement for specialized equipment prohibits the routine application of this technology in low-income countries, and there is an urgent need for sensitive, rapid tests that are affordable and appropriate for use in these areas of the world (5).