TB is good at resisting antibiotics. Here are some new ideas to outsmart the bacteria

A doctor checks chest x-rays of a tuberculosis patient at a clinic in Mumbai, India, that treats those with drug-resistant strains of the disease. Two new studies look at how drug resistance might be overcome. (Punit Paranjpe/AFP via Getty Images)

Tuberculosis, or TB, is a bacterial infection of the lungs that can be fatal. The World Health Organization estimates 1.5 million people died of the disease worldwide in 2020. It remains a persistent foe in large part because the bacteria can mutate and evolve to develop resistance to our antibiotics (often within a patient, which can lead to relapse).

Now, in a pair of studies published this week in PLoS Biology, scientists have found an array of new genes associated with that drug resistance, hinting at how we might battle the disease going forward.