Infection by Mycobacterium tuberculosis kills 1.5 million people worldwide every year. Antibiotics to treat TB exist, but in recent years, multi-drug resistant (MDR), extensively drug-resistant (XDR) and totally drug-resistant (TDR) strains of the bacterium have developed. According to a new study publishing May 31st in the open-access journal PLOS Biology by Ho-Yeon Song of Soonchunhyang University in the Republic of Korea and colleagues, a new class of antibiotics is highly effective against drug-resistant tuberculosis. If validated in clinical trials, the new drug class would represent a major advance in the treatment of tuberculosis.

In mice, the immune response mounted against tuberculosis prevents them from developing COVID-19, according to a new study by Richard Robinson at The Ohio State University, U.S. and colleagues publishing March 24th in the open-access journal PLOS Pathogens.

A novel mouse model of the protective effects of contained tuberculous infection could lead to the development of a more effective vaccine, according to a study published July 16 in the open-access journal PLOS Pathogens by Alan Diercks of Seattle Children's Research Institute, and colleagues.

Insights into how harmful white blood cells form during tuberculosis infection point to novel targets for pharmacological interventions, according to a study published in the open-access journal PLOS Pathogens by Valentina Guerrini and Maria Laura Gennaro of Rutgers New Jersey Medical School, and colleagues.

Global tuberculosis control and elimination will require detailed real-time information on the location of individuals with the disease, the presence of drug resistance, and the patterns of transmission. The surveys currently used are only conducted periodically and are not sufficient to effectively control tuberculosis, which causes more than 4,500 deaths daily. In August in PLOS Medicine, Karen Jacobson, from the Boston University School of Medicine and Boston Medical Center, and colleagues, describe a new technique for linking samples submitted for tuberculosis testing to the individuals who provided the samples and the location from where they were submitted, in a way that can provide the continuous national surveillance necessary for eradicating tuberculosis and drug-resistant tuberculosis.

PLOS, in collaboration with the Global Antibiotic Research and Development Partnership (GARDP), is delighted to launch the Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR) Channel. This new Channel offers the AMR research community access to the latest research, as well as commentaries, blogs, news and discussions that span science, research and development, public health, and policy in the fight against AMR.

Of the millions of people at risk for contracting tuberculosis each year, many are already infected with helminths, parasitic worms including Schistosoma flatworms. In some cases, parasite infections can impair the ability of an immunization to work. But adolescents infected with Schistosoma mansoni respond as well as uninfected teens do to a candidate booster tuberculosis vaccine, according to a new study in PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases.

BCG, the only currently approved TB vaccine, has been around for almost a century and is only partially effective. When given to children, BCG is estimated to prevent 20% of infections and to protect half of the infected individuals from developing active TB, and protection fades over time. Given the complicated TB treatment, the rise of adult TB cases in conjunction with the HIV epidemic, and increasing multidrug resistant TB strains, a new and better vaccine is a global health priority. A study published on July 28th in PLOS Pathogens dissects the immune response in mice to an experimental vaccine and shows why it is highly effective.

World-wide, Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb) is responsible for the vast majority of tuberculosis (TB) cases. However, there are several other closely related mycobacterial species that cause TB, all part of the Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex (Mtbc). One of them, Mycobacterium africanum (Maf), causes up to 40% of TB cases in West Africa. TB diagnosis across Africa relies largely on tests optimized to detect Mtb. A study led by the Medical Research Council Unit The Gambia and the Antwerp Institute of Tropical Medicine, Belgium, published in PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases now suggests that in West Africa tests to identify Mtbc in culture miss a substantial fraction of cases, with dire consequences for the patients and for TB control efforts.

A third of the global population is infected with the bacterial pathogen, a mycobacterium, that causes tuberculosis (TB). Most carriers control the infection and are asymptomatic, but severe forms of the disease (more common in children and immune-compromised adults, and often caused by particularly aggressive—or hypervirulent—mycobacterial strains) kill over a million people every year. An article published on July 3rd in PLOS Pathogens now identifies a factor made by the host that exacerbates lung damage in severe TB. The results also suggest why gene mutations that render the factor inactive are common.