Single-cell raman spectroscopy: a powerful diagnostic tool for identification and drug susceptibility testing of Mycobacterium tuberculosis

Close to one quarter of the world’s population is infected with Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb). Tuberculosis (TB) is hard to treat and causes 3,800 deaths each day. Multidrug-resistant TB (MDR-TB) is a global public health threat. Rapid identification and drug susceptibility testing (DST) of Mtb is key to prevent the spread of MDR-TB. We studied whether single-cell Raman spectroscopy is suitable to provide reliable species identification (ID) and DST results while significantly accelerating the time-to-result (TTR) compared to the standard of care (SoC), that is PCR-based species ID within one day and phenotypic DST results at 7-10 days of culture-positivity.