A huge analysis looking at thousands of strains of tuberculosis bacteria has found new genes linked to antibiotic resistance – discoveries that could play a crucial role in the future treatment and prevention of tuberculosis, and the fight against drug-resistant bugs.
Right now, tuberculosis (TB) can be prevented with a vaccine, and in most cases cured through six months of drug treatments. However, it still claims around 1.5 million lives globally every year – and we don't want that number going in the wrong direction.
That's what makes this new study, the largest genome sequencing analysis of Mycobacterium tuberculosis to date, so vital. The threat of a drug-resistant strain of tuberculosis isn't going away anytime soon.
"Our study demonstrates the ability of very large-scale studies to substantially improve our knowledge of genetic variants associated with antimicrobial resistance in M. tuberculosis," write the researchers in one of their published papers.
In the first of two studies, the team collected and sequenced 12,289 isolates from 23 countries and exposed them to a variety of antimicrobials typically used to treat TB. Of those, more than half were found to be resistant to at least one drug, and 2,129 of those were found to be resistant to the strongest drugs or multiple drugs.
In a follow-up experiment based on 10,228 bacterial isolates, the researchers found strains that were tolerant, if not resistant, to each of the 13 antimicrobials tested....
....MUCH MORE
Well that's just effin' great....
