All Mycobacterium tuberculosis articles
-
NewsTuberculosis: Scientists develop novel drug candidate for combating resistant pathogens
Researchers have developed a promising new substance for targeting bacteria that cause tuberculosis. The team have produced a compound that inhibits the pathogens’ ability to produce energy and causes them to die.
-
NewsBlood-based immunological signatures for extrapulmonary tuberculosis decoded
Scientists have deciphered the immunological properties of extrapulmonary tuberculosis (EPTB) in the blood of affected patients. The results may help to develop new targeted treatments and tests for this important disease.
-
NewsScientists uncover tuberculosis bacterium’s ’heartbeat’, opening door to new treatments
Scientists have identified a molecular system inside Mycobacterium tuberculosis that functions like the organism’s heart or lungs, keeping it alive. The system, known as PrrAB, helps the bacterium generate energy and breathe. When researchers used a gene-silencing tool, the bacterium died.
-
NewsNew study finds targets for a new tuberculosis vaccine
A large-scale screen of tuberculosis proteins has revealed several possible antigens that could be developed as a new vaccine for TB, the world’s deadliest infectious disease.
-
NewsResearchers discover method to combat antibiotic treatment failure
Researchers explored ways to alter our own immune cells to help antibiotics work more effectively. They identified a small molecule that alters the body’s immune cells, forcing them to ’wake up’ dormant bacteria and make them more vulnerable to antibiotic treatment.
-
NewsCould targeted steroid use offer a universal complimentary treatment to fight TB?
Newly published research provides evidence that treating patients with steroids may enhance the function of their macrophages to kill the mycobacteria, while diminishing pathways of inflammatory damage.
-
NewsRare bacterium ‘plays dead’ to evade detection in NASA clean rooms
A rare novel bacterium found in an unexpected environment may be evading detection by “playing dead”. Discovered in NASA spacecraft assembly clean rooms, Tersicoccus phoenicis could have major implications for planetary protection and clean room sterilization practices.
-
NewsTuberculosis vulnerability of people with HIV: a viral protein implicated
Tuberculosis accounts for one in three deaths among people living with HIV. A new study highlights the key role played by Tat 2 – a viral protein secreted by HIV-infected cells – in this hyper-vulnerability phenomenon.
-
NewsNew ‘cough simulator’ mimics TB transmission with unprecedented accuracy
Researchers have developed a new experimental system called Transmission Simulation System (TSS) that replicates the airborne transmission of TB – by simulating the human cough – with unparalleled realism and never-before-seen precision.
-
OpinionSafety and nutritional claims for raw milk
Robert F Kennedy Jr. famously advocates drinking raw milk and promotes its benefits. But how safe is unpasteurised milk? Nicola Holden and Gil Domingue, who sit on Applied Microbiology International’s Food Security Scientific Advisory Group, take a deep dive into the science.
-
NewsSeventy-year-old Parkinson’s drug shows promise against tuberculosis
A medication developed in the 1950s to treat Parkinson’s disease may offer a powerful new tool in the fight against tuberculosis. The study found that benztropine can dramatically reduce levels of TB-causing bacteria by boosting the body’s natural immune response.
-
NewsSkin test reagent proves effective and safe for TB diagnosis in children
A new class of skin test reagents based on Mycobacterium tuberculosis (MTB)-specific antigens has been developed. A phase III clinical trial suggests that C-TST is an effective and safe option for diagnosing pediatric TBI.
-
NewsTB bacteria play possum to evade vaccines
Scientists studied how the TB bacterium evades an immune system primed to destroy it. Their genetic study in mice reveals that TB bacteria can essentially play dead to outlast the immune response.
-
NewsResearch opens up new avenue for tuberculosis drug discovery
Researchers studied an enzyme from the TB bacterium called alpha-methylacyl-CoA racemase (MCR) which helps the bacterium use cholesterol as an energy source. Blocking this enzyme would therefore starve the bacterium of a major food source, helping to treat TB infections.
-
NewsGeneXpert MTB/RIF technology can distinguish non-tuberculous mycobacterial infection
Xpert Mycobacterium tuberculosis/rifampicin (Xpert MTB/RIF) in alveolar lavage fluid can not only detect rifampicin resistance but also distinguish pulmonary tuberculosis (TB) from non-tuberculosis mycobacterial (NTM) pulmonary disease.
-
NewsStudies probe how novel inhibitors can switch efflux pumps off in TB bacteria
Two new studies aim to both identify and understand how novel inhibitors can switch efflux pumps off in the bacteria Mycobacterium tuberculosis.
-
NewsStudy uncovers how certain antibodies help fight tuberculosis
Researchers collected the largest library of monoclonal antibodies to Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb) and identified specific antibody features that significantly limit its growth.
-
NewsStudy discovers DNA switch that controls TB growth – and could help unlock its antibiotic resistance secrets
The bacteria that cause tuberculosis (TB) may have an ‘on-off switch’ that lets them pause and restart growth, according to a new study which helps explain why TB is so hard to treat with antibiotics and could pave the way for better drugs.
-
NewsDNA test detects three times more lung pathogens than traditional methods
A study on the application of Metagenomic next-generation sequencing (mNGS) found it can achieve early detection of pathogens and accelerate development of targeted anti-infection treatment plans, improving treatment outcomes and patient prognosis.
-
NewsNew molecular label could lead to simpler, faster tuberculosis tests
Chemists have demonstrated that they can label a glycan called ManLAM using an organic molecule that reacts with specific sulfur-containing sugars. These sugars are found in only three bacterial species, including the microbe that causes TB.