The prestigious Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation project worth Rs. 1.62 crores have been awarded to the research center of the Dr. GM Taori Central India Institute of Medical Sciences (CIIMS) Hospital, Nagpur, to work on the Next Generation Sequencing (NGS) techniques for the diagnosis of undiagnosed meningoencephalitis (ME) in India for the two years from January 2023 to December 2024.

The experts at the CIIMS hospital will study brain infection cases where the viruses or bacteria that caused them are yet unknown. By using NGS, they will identify these unknown microbes and create a directory of the known, which will eventually assist medical professionals worldwide in delivering proper and effective care at the earliest stage of infection.

The director of research at CIIMS, Dr. Rajpal Singh Kashyap, said that the study would be a major one as 65% of the neuro infection cases in India go undiagnosed as very few causative agents are identified or known. An effective treatment plan could be developed if 200 cases like this were studied.

Several neurologists said that currently, it’s the own discretion of doctors to treat numerous neuro-infection patients. The study will help shed light on the types of bacteria or viruses that are common in central India and aid in the investigation of the genetic alterations that occur in bacteria before antibiotic resistance development. Information about the global rise in antibiotic resistance may be found in this section.

The findings of this study will offer important insights into the epidemiological landscape of pathogens associated with brain inflammation in Indian healthcare settings, according to Dr. Lokendra Singh, director of CIIMS, who described it as an honor to receive the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation project. He also said that the study would aid in developing suitable prevention measures and specialized treatment modalities to save lives.

 (Source: https://health.economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/industry/ciims-gets-rs1-6cr-funding-to-identify-unknown-organisms-causing-neuro-infections/97787545)