Leprosy, often wrongly considered to be a disease of the past, still afflicts millions of people around the world in the form of new infection and disabilities. Over 200,000 new cases are recorded each year yet the transmission dynamics of leprosy are still not fully understood. Currently, there are hardly any laboratory tests which can reliably detect all clinical presentations of leprosy reliably at an early stage. Similar challenges exist for other mycobacterial diseases as well, which pose severe public health concerns.

Molecular epidemiology has emerged as a useful approach for monitoring the transmission dynamics and evolutionary aspects of different pathogens, a glimpse of which has been witnessed by the world during the current pandemic: millions of SARS-CoV-2 genomes have been sequenced to understand its pathogenesis and evolution. With the ever-evolving capabilities of sequencing technologies, genome-wide investigations are at the forefront of life science research in almost all areas. A wealth of data is already available which is providing invaluable insights into the biology and pathogenesis of several microbial pathogens. Riding the tide, the field of molecular epidemiology has also got the edge and single nucleotide resolution into genome-biology is emerging as a helpful tool for the study of many pathogens, including mycobacteria. This has also been valuable for several uncultivable pathogens such as leprosy bacilli (Mycobacterium leprae and M. lepromatosis). Owing to their long incubation period, it is difficult to discern the direction of transmission or differentiate between relapse vs re-infection. Detailed molecular epidemiological investigations can also illuminate on various aspects of pathogen-biology and control such as metabolic pathways, novel drug targets and the mechanisms of drug resistance.

This collection broadly aims to invite articles related to the transmission dynamics, pathogenesis and genome-biology of mycobacterial pathogens.

Major topics included (but not strictly limited to) are:
(i) Molecular diagnostics for mycobacterial diseases
a. Point-of-care diagnostics/low-cost field-friendly tests for mycobacterial diseases
b. Biomarkers of disease progression and their role in developing tools for improved
molecular diagnostics
c. Comparison of different diagnostics for detecting various clinical presentations of
leprosy and leprosy reactions, and other mycobacterial diseases
(ii) Mathematical modelling/Epidemiological modelling in mycobacterial diseases
(iii) Zoonotic aspects of leprosy and other mycobacterial diseases
(iv) Molecular epidemiology of leprosy & other mycobacterial diseases:
a. Existing methods of molecular epidemiology of leprosy
b. Recent advances in molecular epidemiological approaches
c. Genotyping schemes of leprosy bacilli and other mycobacterial pathogens
d. Applications of massively parallel sequencing approaches for mycobacterial
research
e. New findings in the field of molecular epidemiology of mycobacterial diseases
f. New horizons in mycobacterial research:
1. New bioinformatics tools and other computational approaches/algorithms for
investigations into the biology of mycobacterial pathogens.
2. identifying the genotypes/lineages of leprosy and other mycobacterial
pathogens using automated schemes/artificial intelligence based decision-
making tools.
3. Databases for drug resistance related mutations and phylogeographically
informative SNPs
4. molecular drug susceptibility testing and phenotypes of mutations
5. Ancient DNA research in mycobacterial diseases and its role in understanding the
mycobacterial evolution
(v) Pathogenic variants in mycobacterial diseases: differential pathogenesis/growth rate/transmissibility
(vi) Drug resistance mechanisms and antimicrobial resistance:
a. New drugs and repurposing of drugs for mycobacterial diseases
b. Hypersensitivity against leprosy drugs: detection and alternate interventions

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Frontiers in Tropical Diseases

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