MYCOBACTERIUM TUBERCULOSIS

Jul 05 2025SCIENCE

Tuberculosis and COVID-19: A Double Whammy on Lungs

Tuberculosis (TB) and COVID-19 are both nasty lung infections. They can cause a lot of damage to the lungs. Scientists wanted to see what happens when someone has both infections at the same time. They used a special type of lung cell, called A549 cells, to study this. First, they infected the cells with TB bacteria. After a day, they added the COVID-19 virus. They ...

reading time less than a minute
May 22 2025SCIENCE

The Hidden Battle: How Genes Shape Our Fight Against Tuberculosis

The way our bodies react to tuberculosis (TB) can be very different from one person to another. This is because our genes play a big role in how we fight off infections. A recent study dug deep into this mystery. Researchers looked at how immune cells in our blood react to the TB bacteria. They focused on four important signals that our immune cells send out when the...

reading time about 1 minute
May 03 2025HEALTH

Tuberculosis: The Mystery of Hidden Infections

Tuberculosis, or TB, is a sneaky disease. It can hide in the body, making it tough to spot. Doctors often use sputum cultures to find TB bacteria. But sometimes, these tests come up empty, even when TB is present. This is where things get tricky. New, super-sensitive tests like GeneXpert MTB/RIF Ultra can pick up TB DNA in sputum samples that cultures miss. But what ...

reading time about 1 minute
Feb 09 2025HEALTH

The Unseen Heroes of TB Defense: Understanding γδ T cells

γδ T cells are a type of immune cell that plays a crucial role in early tuberculosis (TB) defense. TB, caused by the bacterium Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb), is a significant global health issue. For many years, scientists have focused on Th1-type immunity as a key factor in fighting Mtb. However, γδ T cells, which produce a protein called IL-17, are also importan...

reading time about 1 minute
Jan 02 2025SCIENCE

Beating TB: The Journey of AcpM Protein

Have you ever wondered how bacteria become resistant to drugs? One culprit, Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb), is a sneaky bug causing deadly tuberculosis. A key player in TB's resistance is AcpM, a protein that helps Mtb build its tough outer shell. Understanding AcpM is crucial because it can help us find new drugs to fight TB. Scientists recently found a cleve...

reading time less than a minute
Nov 18 2024HEALTH

How Bacteria Adapt to Low Oxygen: A Closer Look at Mycobacterium smegmatis

Tuberculosis, caused by Mycobacterium tuberculosis, has been a big health problem for a long time. In 2022, the number of new cases reached 7. 5 million, the highest since 1995. This increase could be due to the COVID-19 pandemic making it tough to find tuberculosis cases. Scientists looked at how Mycobacterium smegmatis handles low oxygen (hypoxia) by studying a ge...

reading time less than a minute